Founding Travel Medicine: The ISTM's Formative Years

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Founding Travel Medicine: The ISTM's Formative Years

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Journey back with us nearly 40 years ago, when travel medicine was but a sparkle in a few physicians' eyes — and discover how a handful of visionary health professionals built a global medical field. In this special episode of Travel Unravelled, host Dr. Aisha Khatib and ISTM president Dr. Anne McCarthy sit down with ISTM foundational members Robert Steffen, Herbert DuPont, Phyllis Kozarsky and Nancy Jenks to trace the storied origins of the International Society of Travel Medicine. From faxed New Yorker cartoons to standing‑room‑only ad hoc conferences in Zurich, these trailblazers share candid stories of risk and serendipity — including personal hotel guarantees, MDs clad in leather pants, the birth of GeoSentinel and the importance of nurses to the burgeoning field of travel medicine. What began as a small group filling a clinical gap has grown into a global force protecting travelers and tracking disease across borders. Theirs is the story of a field coming into its own. But as climate change and global mobility reshape risk, the work is far from done. We'll explore: How "travel medicine" got its name — and why alternatives like emporiatrics were rejected. The inside story of the first Zurich meeting and how it unexpectedly drew nearly 500 people without email, fax or the internet. The high‑stakes gamble behind the 1991 Atlanta meeting, including personal financial risk to secure the Marriott Marquis. How ISTM was formally born from the success of Atlanta, including creating a nonprofit. The creation of GeoSentinel, from paper forms and faxed reports to a global surveillance network for emerging diseases. The origins of the ISTM exam and the surprise of filling a New York ballroom with 450 test‑takers at the first sitting. The pivotal role of nurses and women in shaping travel medicine's education, practice and leadership. How informal personal networks and friendships helped globalize a niche specialty long before digital communication. The guests' visions for travel medicine's future, from evidence-based practice to integrating travel health into everyday primary care. GUEST BIOS Herbert (Bert) L. DuPont is a founding member and the first president of the International Society of Travel Medicine. He began his academic career as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer with the US Centers for Disease Control assigned to the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. After several years on the Maryland faculty, he moved to the University of Texas Medical School at Houston as the school's founding director of its program in infectious diseases and microbiology. He is a world-renowned authority on traveller's diarrhea and infectious gastroenteritis. In addition to his work with ISTM, Dr. DuPont served as President of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and the American Clinical and Climatological Association. He served on the Board of Governors for the American College of Physicians (ACP) and served as ACP Governor for south Texas. He is a member of the American Epidemiological Society. Robert Steffen is Professor Emeritus at the University of Zurich and Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston. Since the 1970s he has assessed morbidity and mortality related to international travel to conclude on preventive strategies. He organized the first international conference of travel medicine in 1988 in Zurich and was a co-founder of the International Society of Travel Medicine. He presided over the Swiss Federal Commission for Influenza and was Vice-President of the Federal Commission on Vaccination. He contributed to many WHO advisory boards and served as Chair of all recent IHR Ebola Emergency Committees. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Travel Medicine, of the International Journal of Public Health and Section Editor for Clinical Infectious Diseases. Phyllis E. Kozarsky is Professor Emerita with distinction in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University, with over 35 years of impactful work as a clinician, researcher, and educator in infectious diseases, travel medicine and global health. She served for 25 years as a consultant to the CDC's Division of Global Migration and Quarantine and was chief medical editor of the CDC "Yellow Book," helping establish it as a leading global reference. A founding member of the International Society of Travel Medicine and co-founder of GeoSentinel, she has played a key role in advancing global surveillance of travel-related illnesses. Dr. Kozarsky also helped define standards in travel medicine. Nancy Jenks is the Director of Research Initiatives and migrant/travel medicine at Sun River Health in Peekskill, NY. She served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal, West Africa, worked at CIWEC Clinic in Kathmandu, Nepal and served as a research fellow at the WHO Center for the ...

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