Events

• Scholarship deadline: October 7, 2026 (worth $1,500 USD)
• Short Talk Abstract Deadline: October 7, 2026
• Early Registration Deadline: December 3, 2026 (save $250 USD)
• Poster Abstract Deadline: January 12, 2027

Delegates are required to register and submit abstracts for the ANTI-HELMINTHICS VII and STRONGYLODES meetings separately

Objectives

The Anti-helminthics VII meeting will focus on helminth parasite infections of human, animals, including flatworms, tapeworms, filaria and roundworm. The meeting will be held with the Pre-Symposium International Strongyloides meeting (March 20-21) and recognizes the importance of experimental models that includes C. elegans and other emerging models. Another key objective of the meeting is to train and encourage graduate students and post-docs in these fields of research, so we have made an extra effort to invite and introduce early researchers to the program. The meeting will review recent progress in:

• anti-helminthic and nematicide drug development and medicinal chemistry
• modes of action of anti-helminthic and nematocidal drugs
• the emergence and mechanisms of drug resistance
• anti-helminthic vaccine development
• public health efforts to control helminth infections of humans
• Strongyloides Strongyloides biology, pathology, treatment and control

Anti-helminthics VI will be held at the Malone Lodge, Belfast, Northern Ireland, March 21st-24th, 2027.

Organizing Committee

Angela Mousley (Queen’s University Belfast), Louise Atkinson (Queen’s University Belfast), Paul McCluskey (Queen’s University Belfast), Erik Andersen (Johns Hopkins University), Raffi Aroian (University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School) and Richard Martin (Iowa State University)

Scientific Advisory Committee

Roz Laing, Collette Britton, Vicky Hunt, Rebecca Shears, Henry McSorley, JB Collins, James Wasmuth, Geoff Gobert, Kathryn Else

The BASICS:

1. The meeting is in person.
2. Registration and Abstract submission will open October 1st, 2026.
3. Abstracts and Registration for the symposium before February 1st, 2027: The fee is $550 (US) for faculty and commercial delegates. For students and Post-Docs it is $450.  Find abstract submission and registration information under the page labelled: PROGRAM, ABSTRACTS & REGISTRATION.
4. Travel Awards for Grad Students: Please send applications to rjmartin@iastate.edu with supporting letter from major professor with travel costs. The meeting organizers will dole out any surplus dollars according to need to those trainees who apply.

Our objectives this symposium are like previous meetings in Toronto (2024), Worcester MA (2022), Santa Monica (2020), Indian Rocks Beach (2018), San Diego (2016), San Francisco (2014), and Philadelphia (2012)

Our normally  biannual (Covid excepted) meetings on anthelmintics are driven by scientific and medical needs that arise from the now established ambitious use of anthelmintics for controlling and human helminth infections with Mass Drug Administration (MDA) and similar extensive use in animals. This continuous use has led to concerns about the development of resistance and the need for novel compounds to overcome resistance. There is a real concern about climate change with evidence that the distribution of helminth infections is changing geographically.  We recognize that there is real medical need to develop new anthelmintics and vaccines but to do so successfully requires new technology, new science and training of graduates and post-docs.

In addition to our invited speakers, we are seeking to include presentations from the community on: New Research Approaches; Schistosomes and Flatworms; Filaria and Heartworms; Soil-Transmitted Helminths in animals and humans; Plant parasitic nematodes;, Drug and Vaccine Development; Anthelmintic Resistance.

Questions that we are seeking to answer:

1. How can we drive the discovery and development of new and more effective anthelmintics and vaccines for the future?
2. What new techniques and approaches can we use for our studies and for the detection of resistance?
3. Can we find out more about how combinations of drugs could work together synergistically, and how vaccines and drugs could combine more effectively.

Goals:

• We intend to promote training of graduate and post-doc researchers in multidisciplinary approaches required for anthelmintic drug and vaccine discovery and the design of sustainable control programs.
• We want to stimulate communication between studies on medical and veterinary parasites and bring together academic and industrial scientists working to discover and develop novel anthelmintic drugs. There is consensus that novel anthelmintics will be needed because of increasing resistance to existing drugs.  There is a need to improve the supply of drugs for control of schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminths, river blindness, and helminths of food animals.
• Plant-parasitic nematodes are a major concern for producers of basic food crops including soya beans, potatoes, rice and wheat. We see overlapping interests between scientists working on chemicals for the control of plant nematodes and animal nematodes.
• We recognize that commercial support and interests play a very big role in the success and delivery of anthelmintic therapy and so we are very pleased to welcome scientists from private companies to our meeting. Recent developments in private/public partnerships have allowed a synergism that has benefited science, medical health and commercial interests.

Mark your calendars for the 31st Conference of the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology (WAAVP) taking place 22–26 August 2027 in Berlin. The scientific programme of 31st Conference of the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology (WAAVP) is beginning to take shape. We are pleased to share a first glimpse of the conference programme, highlighting the diverse and interdisciplinary nature of veterinary parasitology, from One Health approaches to advances in parasite control and disease management.

For the second time in its history, Berlin will host this prestigious international event. The first occasion was the 13th WAAVP Conference in 1989 – a remarkable moment in history, when the city was still divided. Even then, veterinary parasitology brought together scientists from both sides of the Iron Curtain. Shortly thereafter, the division became history. Recognizing these historic changes and the unifying strength of science, the conference theme for 2027 is: “No matter when, no matter how: Veterinary Parasitology unites us all.” As always, WAAVP 2027 will provide an outstanding platform to present, learn about, and discuss the latest findings across all fields of Veterinary Parasitology. In the spirit of One Health, special emphasis will be placed on interdisciplinary collaboration and interactions between veterinary, human, and environmental sciences.