Fostering East-West and North-South bidirectional collaborations: Experiences from the First International Congress on Ecology and Evolution of Global Communicable Diseases held in Quito and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

Communicable disease is a challenge that is widely recognized to be a consequence of globalization. Infectious disease threats such as SARS-CoV-2, Ebola, Zika, malaria, and yellow fever are easily transmissible through mass global processes such as migration and trade. Scholars are increasingly recognizing the value of international cooperation and transdisciplinary research to meet these infectious disease challenges and even to anticipate future challenges. However, international collaboration is not an easy process given the often-uneven relationships between the Global North and South due to histories of resource disparities. In the International Congress on Ecology and Evolution of Global Communicable Diseases held in Quito and Galapagos Islands, Ecuador in 2016, researchers developed a concrete framework for international, interdisciplinary collaboration toward tackling infectious disease challenges. We share the insights from the congress here in hopes of enabling other scientific researchers to engage in similar research partnerships and to forge collective progress toward a more efficient infectious disease research agenda. The following core competencies are addressed in this article: Medical knowledge, Interpersonal and communication skills, and Professionalism.