HIV and ID Observations

With ICAAC now completed — which took place in a city called Boston but seemed far, far, from home (see picture) — it seems timely to inquire about another form of “scientific” conference.

Every so often, I’ll receive an email like this (slightly edited to protect the sender, whomever he or she may be):

Dear Dr. Professor Sax,

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, I am pleased to invite you to attend the 1st Annual Global Conference on Infectious Disease Pharmacotherapy and Prevention, to be held in [insert economically booming city from Asia or the Middle East here] from 12-15 January, 2011.

We would like you to participate as our guest speaker, giving a keynote address on [insert topic here, likely only vaguely related to what I do] on a day of your choosing.

Already, Nobel laureate Dr. Griffin Doohickey [I made that name up] has agreed to chair the meeting.  If you decide to participate, you will be joining several other internationally-recognized leaders in research who will be providing plenary lectures as well.

I’ll admit that the first time I received one of these, I was extremely flattered — after all, who wouldn’t want to visit Dubai, or Beijing, or Taipei?

But since none of these invitations actually offered to cover the expense of travel, accommodation, or registration, I became suspicious — could it be that most (if not all) of these meetings are bogus, designed to separate academics from their money by appealing to their professional narcisism?

If I’m right, I sure hope Dr. Griffin Doohickey hasn’t provided the organizers his credit card or bank account information.  And if he has, there’s a Nigerian prince I’ve heard from who has a very promising investment opportunity.