Experts from diverse fields collaborating to advance Lyme disease research, treatment and education will showcase their latest projects at Lyme Connection’s 12th Annual Patient Conference and Health Fair this month. Looking at Lyme Through a New Lens will take place on May 17 at Western Connecticut State University’s Westside Campus Student Center. Doors will open at 5pm, giving attendees time to visit the Lyme-focused health fair, featuring Lyme-literate practitioners, diagnostic laboratories, and manufacturers offering prevention and patient support products. 

The evening program begins at 7pm with the presentation of Lyme Connection’s second Courage in Journalism Award to Lew Leone, vice president and general manager of WNYW-FOX 5 TV. Leone conceptualized and was the executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning TV special, Lyme and Reason: The Cause and Consequence of Lyme Disease. His wife also suffers with Lyme.

Attendees will then hear from internationally acclaimed speakers, including Wilton-based internist and tick-borne diseases specialist Dr. Steven Phillips, Duke University oncologist Dr. Neil Spector (by video) and patient advocate Dana Parish. They will share treatment insights and news about research projects they are collaborating on. The trio is involved in a first-of-its-kind joint-research project through Duke University, Johns Hopkins University and Tulane University, taking the same precision medicine techniques for drug discovery used in the fields of cancer and HIV and directing them toward finding a cure for Lyme disease and Bartonella. A roundtable question-and-answer session with Phillips, Parish and Leone will conclude the evening.

Admission is free thanks to the support of this year’s sponsors: Dr. Roseann Capanna-Hodge, Global Lyme Diagnostics, Hopkinton Drug, IGeneX, Inc., Nutramedix, SOPHIA Natural Health Center and Tick Box Technology Corporation. The event is free and open to the public for all parts of the agenda.

For more information and registration, visit LymeConnection.org or Facebook.com/LymeConnection. Location: WestConn Westside Student Center, 43 Lake Ave Extension, Danbury. See ad, page 36.