World TB Day

On 24th March each year, the world commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced his discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis as the causative agent of tuberculosis

We have taken this opportunity to host a one-day symposium March every year since 2010, to highlight contemporary TB research, control measures and policy initiatives, and to discuss future challenges. Our aim is to connect with all the people who work on, or are affected by TB: researchers; people in surveillance, control and policy; those in diagnostics and patient care; and affected patients and communities. These symposia have been held annually since 2010.  Since 2014, we have partnered with the LSHTM TB Centre. In addition, as in recent years, we join with UCSF for one session as our day ends and theirs begins.

World TB Day Symposium 2025

Monday March 24th 2025

This will be a hybrid event, with in-person and online attendance. It is free and open to all.

In-person location: John Snow Lecture Theatre, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E7HT

Register for in-person event here

(Note that for a while, Eventbrite incorrectly said that these tickets were sold out; if you saw this message, please try booking again)

Online (no registration required) via Zoom

Join online

Programme

08:30 - 09:00: Arrival, registration, refreshments

09:00 - 09:40: Welcome, introductory remarks, TB survivor Q&A

• Toyin Togun and Sedona Sweeney, LSHTM TB Centre directors
• Marc Lipman, UCL TB director
• Liam Smeeth, director, LSHTM
• Shabbar Jaffar, Director, UCL Institute for Global Health
• Mariama Barrow, TB survivor, Gambia
• Amy McConville, TB survivor, UK

09:40 - 10:30: Session 1: Post-TB - Beyond the cure: Stories and science of life after TB
As our understanding of TB evolves, attention is turning to post-TB lung health. This session will cover the burden and definition of post-TB lung disease (PTLD), innovative therapies for PTLD, and the experiences of paediatric TB survivors, highlighting both scientific advancements and personal insights.

Chairs: Jayne Sutherland, MRC Gambia, Jess Potter, UCL

• Overview of post-TB disability - Claire Calderwood, LSHTM
• Host-directed therapy to reduce post-TB lung disease - who/how/when should we target? - Gabriele Pollara, UCL
• Sequelae and lived experiences of paediatric pulmonary TB survivors - Esin Nkereuwem, MRC Gambia at LSHTM

10:30 - 11:00: Break

11:00 - 12:00: Session 2: The United Kingdom’s place in national and international policy
TB rates in the UK and globally are now rising, whilst demands on over-stretched resources and finances continue to increase. How should the UK respond to this, both on a national and international level?

Chairs: Emily Shaw, HTD & UCLH/UKHSA, Sahera Ramzan, Results UK

• Current trends of TB in England and future national policy options - Lauren Ahyow, UKHSA TB Unit
• How can UK target actions on TB at a national and global level? - Janika Hauser, Global Health Campaigns/Global TB Caucus
• UK place in international TB policy and financial aid - Simon Lee, Disease Poverty Policy Lead, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office 

Panel discussion 

• Eliud Wandwalo, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria
• Lord Nick Herbert, co-chair All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Global Tuberculosis and chair, Global TB Caucus

12:00 - 13:00: Debate on motion “This house believes that Pan-TB regimens are dead in the water"
Pan-TB regimens aim to revolutionise the treatment of tuberculosis by developing universal, shorter, and more effective drug combinations that can treat all forms of TB, i.e. disease caused by drug-sensitive and drug-resistant strains, thereby simplifying treatments for healthcare systems and people with TB. But is this approach doomed to failure; will it create more problems than it solves? Hear compelling arguments from experts on both sides about the challenges, potential, and future of PAN-TB in the global fight against TB, and have your say.

Chair: Padmasayee Papineni, Consultant in Infectious Diseases and Acute Medicine, London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust

For the motion: Gwen Knight, LSHTM
Against the motion: Gerry Davies, Professor of Infection Pharmacology and Honorary Consultant in Infectious Diseases at the University of Liverpool.

13:00 - 14:00: Lunch

14:00 - 15:00: Session 3: Early Career Researcher Turbo Talks

Chair: Katherine Horton, LSHTM

• Sex differences in the risk of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis - Hannah Rickman, LSHTM
• Double burden, single approach: Integrating TB and NCD care in households affected by TB - Yohhei Hamada, UCL
• The effect of N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) on oxidative pathways leading to lung damage in TB - Janet Zambezi, MRC Unit The Gambia
• Within-country heterogeneity in patterns of social contact relevant for TB infection transmission, prevention, and care - Kate LeGrand, LSHTM
• The TB-HEART study: burden and natural history of cardiac pathology among participants with pulmonary TB living with and without HIV in Zambia - Marcello Scopazzini, LSHTM/Zambart
• Riboswitches, sentinels at the host-pathogen interface - Shahida Rafique, UCL  
• Estimating the global burden of viable Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection - Alvaro Schwalb, LSHTM
• Novel inhibitors of mycobactin to combat drug-resistant TB - Gourav Rakshit, Birkbeck, University of London
• Development of a predictive score to identify vulnerable households of newly diagnosed individuals with pulmonary tuberculosis in rural South Africa - Indira Govender, LSHTM
• Immune dysregulation in Post-TB lung disease - Raphael Kamngona, MRC Unit The Gambia
• The potential importance of TB vaccine efficacy by TB disease stage for the full value of new TB vaccines - Rebecca Clark, LSHTM
• Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex strain discordance among household index-secondary patient pairs, a systematic review and meta-analysis - Martha Chipinduro, THRU ZIM

15:00 - 15:30: Break

15:30 - 16:30: Session 4: Asymptomatic TB - where are we, and where are we going?
With the recognition by the World Health Organisation of asymptomatic (nee subclinical) TB, we are entering a new phase in TB policy and research. This session will provide an update on where this field is, and where it is likely to go in the coming years. 

Chairs: Rein Houben, LSHTM, Helen Ayles, LSHTM

• Policy - Updates on definitions, terminology and policy landscape for asymptomatic TB - Katherine Horton, LSHTM
• Screening and diagnosis - how good or bad are we at diagnosing early disease states of TB - Alvaro Schwalb, LSHTM
• Biomarkers - How do we evaluate biomarkers for asymptomatic TB? - James Greenan-Barrett, UCL 
• Treatment - how can we treat early TB, and how can we find out? - Hanif Esmail, UCL 

16:30 - 16:40: UCSF link-up

16:40 - 17:00: Closing remarks

17:00 - 18:30: Reception

This is subject to change. For information, or for opportunities to sponsor the event, contact us at tb@ucl.ac.uk

Attendance certificates will be available on request ; contact us at tb@ucl.ac.uk

Recording
The event will be recorded, and the link will be listed on this page when available

Go to the LSHTM event web page

Sponsors: With grateful thanks to our sponsors: Bruker, Cepheid, Global Fund, Insmed, Qiagen