Making the Impossible, Possible: SALURBAL-Climate Gathers in Panama

PANAMA CITY, PANAMA – MAY 2026

From May 12 to 14, 2026, about 50 members of the SALURBAL-Climate team gathered in Panama City to share research progress from the first two years of this project phase. The meeting also served to present preliminary findings, receive feedback, and exchange methods and tools to advance public health and climate change science in Latin America.

Attendees represented half of the 100 people currently working on the project. They come from twelve academic institutions and research groups across eight countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and the United States.

SALURBAL-Climate is a five-year project launched in 2023. Its goal is to address the critical need for evidence on the links between climate change and health impacts across Latin America. This was the second time the team had the chance to meet in person after a year and a half of working virtually from their respective institutions.

Beyond presentations on the project’s different objectives, academic papers, and working groups, the gathering also helped align the various components of the project, including data management, capacity building, communications, and public policy.

During the meeting, SALURBAL-Climate and the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP) recognized Panama’s National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC) and Ministry of Health (MINSA) for their commitment to transparency and access to key data needed to generate relevant evidence for the Latin American region.

The team also acknowledged the four new SALURBAL-Climate fellows (2025–2027), winners of a two-year program that provides supplemental funding to early-career researchers who are part of a partner institution. In addition, seven team members received the “Making the Impossible, Possible” award, given in recognition of exceptional dedication, collaboration, and contribution to advancing the project’s mission.

Gatherings like this help the team align strategies, recharge, and explore new ideas to keep building science from and for the region. Because in the end, that is what it is all about: making the impossible, possible.

Workshops

As part of the capacity-building component, two workshops were held on May 12. The first, on code reproducibility, was led by Usama Bilal, MD, PhD, MPH, along with Derek Weix, MS, PhD, and Ran Li, MS. By the end of the workshop, participants had learned to use Git and GitHub for version control, apply practices that ensure analysis reproducibility, and incorporate code review workflows with responsible support from artificial intelligence tools.

The second workshop, titled Research Proposal Writing, was offered by the Drexel Research Center on Extreme Weather and Urban Health (CCUH) and coordinated by researcher Brisa N. Sánchez, PhD, and Kaela Barna, MPA. It featured collaborative learning sessions and a panel with researchers at different career stages and from various disciplines. The goal was to provide an overview of the different components of the writing process and to answer questions about developing and refining research proposals for funding.