Annual English Tea Goes Virtual
Story by Aubrey Bloom, CVMBS Communications
Though most changes related to COVID-19 are inconvenient, there are always silver linings to be found.
COVID-19 precautions recently forced Jane Welsh, professor in the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences’ (CVMBS) Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences (VIBS), to move her annual “English Tea” to a virtual format.
The event, which brings together those with an interest in multiple sclerosis, has been going for over two decades now, but this was the first time they weren’t able to meet in person.
But while it didn’t have the face-to-face conversations that have become a hallmark of the event, it did allow for people outside of the Bryan-College Station area to join, including one participant from more than 4,500 miles away.
Dr. Chris Linington, from the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom, joined the call, as did Dr. Andrew Steelman and some of his graduate students from the University of Illinois. Steelman earned his Ph.D. in biomedical sciences at Texas A&M in 2008 and was a postdoctoral fellow in VIBS professor Dr. Jianrong Li’s lab. Li and her team were joined on the call by fellow VIBS research assistant professor Dr. Candice Brinkymeyer-Langford and her team.
During the call, graduate students presented their recent work on topics related to multiple sclerosis, which includes several multiple sclerosis patients in the Bryan-College Station area.
“From my perspective, it went really well and allowed the graduate students to present their research findings to a wide audience of scientists and patients,” Welsh said. “As a result of this meeting, we are going to be having monthly Zoom meetings with the scientists to brainstorm and continue to present our ongoing research.”
Welsh, also from the United Kingdom, originally created the event as an English Tea because she really loves having tea with sandwiches and cakes at teatime.
“With proper hot tea—none of this iced tea rubbish,” she joked.
The feedback from the patients, some of whom made their own tea at home to try and capture the theme of the event, was positive and several noted that they appreciated hearing about the various leading-edge approaches to treating multiple sclerosis.
“Some of the new research presented was really fascinating, and being able to share ideas from researchers outside of Texas A&M was definitely a positive,” Welsh said. “Of course, we can’t wait to have this event in person again and have those face-to-face connections, but we were pleased with the outcome, overall.”
###
For more information about the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, please visit our website at vetmed.tamu.edu or join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Contact Information: Jennifer Gauntt, Director of CVM Communications, Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences; jgauntt@cvm.tamu.edu; 979-862-4216
