When and Where?
Wednesday, May 27th, 2026
8:00 am – 2:30 pm
MART Building, 1 Lauterbur Dr, Stony Brook, NY 11794
Register today
The Symposium on Tick-borne Diseases is free and open to the public. Breakfast and lunch are included with registration.
This event will feature researchers and clinicians from Stony Brook Renaissance School of Medicine and Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. The program will cover recent advances in research on tick-borne illnesses, including infections common on Long Island and the Alpha-gal meat allergy. This event will also showcase the resources that Stony Brook provides to keep our community informed about tick-transmitted diseases.
Event Agenda:
| Morning Introduction | ||
| Time | Title | Speaker(s) |
| 8:00 – 8:30 am | Coffee & Lite Bites | — |
| 8:30-8:40 | Introduction | — |
| Session I: The Significance of the Problem | ||
| 8:40-9:00 am | Tick vectors of disease | Ilia Rochlin, Centers for Disease Control |
| 9:00-9:20 am | Tick-borne pathogens | Jorge Benach, Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology |
| Session II: Pathogenesis Research on Tick-borne Infections | ||
| 9:20-9:40 am | Powassan Virus Directs an Alzheimer's-Like Disease | Erich Mackow, Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology |
| 9:40-10:00 am | Rickettsial Pathogenesis and Host Immunity | Hwan Kim, Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology |
| 10:00-10:20 am | Tools to Study Tick-borne Disease-specific T Cells | Samuel Becker, Dept. of Medicine |
| Coffee Break and Award Presentation | ||
| 10:20-10:45 am | Coffee break | — |
| 10:45-11:00 am | Award Presentation for US Congressman LaLota | — |
| Session III: Clinical-Translational Research on Tick-borne Infections | ||
| 11:00-11:20 am | From Research to Real Life: Translating Evidence on Tick-borne Diseases into Practice | Luis Marcos, Dept. of Medicine |
| 11:20-11:40 am | Interdisciplinary Approaches to Studying Emerging Tick-borne Diseases: Insights from Rickettsia Amblyommatis | Andrew Handel, Dept. Pediatrics |
| 11:40 am -12:00 pm | Acute and Prolonged Human Immune Responses to Tick-borne Infections | Charles Vorkas, Dept. of Medicine |
| 12:00-12:30 pm | Clinical-Translational Research Panel | — |
| Lunch | ||
| 12:30-1:10 pm | LUNCH | — |
| Session IV: Alpha-gal Syndrome: An Urgent Emerging Threat | ||
| 1:10-1:50 pm | Alpha-Gal Panel Discussion | Erin McGintee, Stony Brook-Southampton Hospital Brianne Navetta-Modrov, Dept. of Medicine |
| Session V: Resources from the Stony Brook-Southampton Regional Tick-borne Diseases Center | ||
| 1:50-2:10 pm | Regional Tick-borne Disease Resource Center & Clinic - An Overview | Karen Wulffraat, Director |
| 2:10-2:30 pm | Closing Remarks | — |
Who Should Attend?
All are welcome to join. Specifically, Medical and public health personnel from the Health Sciences Center and the community. Individuals interested in disease ecology and in efforts to assess the impact of climate change on emergence of new diseases.