Dear Friends and Colleagues,

On behalf of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research we welcome everyone to the second joint EAZWV/AAZV/Leibniz-IZW Conference in Prague. We are grateful to our American colleagues for making the journey across the pond to join us this year. As was the case in the inaugural joint meeting in Atlanta, we hope everyone from all three organizations will use the opportunity to reconnect with colleagues, meet new people and exchange experiences and information. The joint meeting represents an opportunity to share experiences and reach a wider audience than a local or regional meeting. We can learn about the similarities and differences between zoo and wildlife health research in Europe and the Americas and benefit from both.

This year’s Scientific Program Committee (SPC), representing the three participating organizations, has put in a herculean effort to bring you a diverse set of workshops, sessions, master classes and plenary sessions. The topics and speakers span the range of the participating organizations and beyond and we are confident everyone will draw inspiration from what they hear and learn.

We thank Allison Tuttle, Kristen Phair, Sam Rivera, Alicia Hahn, Samantha Sander, Hugo Fernández Bellon and the rest of the SPC members for their tireless efforts. We thank the local host Jaroslav Ńimek, Lucie Ńańková, Roman Vodička and Miroslav Bobek from Prague Zoo for making their venue available and hosting us in their lovely city. We thank our counterpart organizers Stephanie Sanderson, Hanspeter Steinmetz from the EAZWV and Rob Hilsenroth, Mike Adkesson, Adine Nicholson and Kathy Judge Blacklock from the AAZV for making this joint meeting possible. From the IZW side, please extend special thanks to Josepha Prügel, Kristin Mühldorfer, Stefanie Lenz and Steven Seet who have been organizing the European meetings for years and have helped to organize this joint meeting in a similar capacity.

Sincerely,

Alex Greenwood
Head of the Department of Wildlife Diseases
Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research