I am a post-doctoral research fellow with the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) Program in Aquatic Epidemiology at UPEI. I received an Early Career Development Award from CERC that allowed me to participate in a week-long molecular epidemiology course organized by the University of Helsinki (from August 28, 2017), in Helsinki, Finland.

The molecular epidemiology course held at the University of Helsinki was taught by instructors from University of Glasgow (Drs. Ruth Zadoks, Roman Biek, and Taya Forde) and was attended by more than forty participants representing all continents. The course included both lectures and hands-on exercises and was designed to familiarize us with the concepts and terminologies of molecular epidemiology and introduce the tools and software commonly used in the analysis of molecular epidemiological data. The course also required the participants to design and present a molecular epidemiological study, which was not only a review for several methods learned during the course but also provided a wider context for participants in terms of use of these methods in different settings.

Overall, attending the molecular epidemiology course was an enriching educational experiences. I am thankful to CERC for the opportunity provided by the Early Career Development Award.