Conference Poster Presentations: May 6, 2026 (all day)  
Austin, TX 
Submission Deadline: Friday, February 27, 2026 at 11:59 pm CST
 

The Texas Department of State Health Services invites abstracts for poster presentations for the Epidemiology & Laboratory Capacity (ELC) 2026: Infectious, Respiratory, and Healthcare-associated Infections Conference, sponsored by the Office of the Chief State Epidemiologist’s Emerging and Acute Infectious Disease and Healthcare Safety Units. 

This multidisciplinary conference gathers Texas’ healthcare and public health professionals to partner and share expertise on focus area topics such as: case assessments and investigations; communicable diseases; emerging public health threats; infection prevention and control; outbreak preparedness and response; patient safety; quality improvement; surveillance strategies; training and education; and workforce development. 

The ELC Conference is May 5 to 8, 2026, with poster presentations only occurring on May 6, 2026.  Most selected abstracts will be as a poster presentation only, however, there may be select poster presentation authors invited to conduct an oral presentation with other speakers on related topics. You must attend in person to be considered for a poster presentation.

Note: Communications for speaker presentations (plenaries, breakout sessions, panels, etc.) will be addressed separately (i.e., are forthcoming) 

Target Audience: 

Infection control practitioners, quality improvement and patient safety professionals, laboratory employees, epidemiologists, data analysts, clinicians, healthcare administrators, health profession students, and other public health partners.

How to Submit: 

The Call for Abstracts for Poster Presentations submission site is open from Tuesday, January 6, 2025, through Friday, February 27, 2026 11:59 pm CST.

Abstracts for Poster Presentations Submission Guidelines:

• 300 words maximum (including: Title, Introduction, Methods, Results, Conclusions, and Public Health Significance)
• Use complete sentences
• No bulleted lists, tables, or figures
• Proofread for typographical and grammatical errors
• Spell out or define all acronyms and/or abbreviations at first use (even acronyms considered common by the author). Acronyms in title acceptable if spelled out or defined upon first use in the abstract
• Only one author per abstract for poster presentation should submit the abstract (i.e., each author does not need to submit the abstract; designate primary author who lists any/all additional authors in online submission form)
• Poster presentations cannot be used to market products 

Abstracts for Poster Presentations Review Process:

The conference committee will review abstracts to decide which are accepted for presentation based on relevance to: Conference Theme and Focus Areas; Scientific Merit; Innovation/ Creativity; Writing Clarity and Quality; Healthcare and Public Health Significance; and Submission Guidelines Adherence.  Reviewers are blinded to author names. 

Authors of selected abstracts for poster presentations must submit their poster electronically as a .pdf to accommodate virtual attendees as part of a hybrid conference.  Please note, in-person attendance is still required, and authors should prepare to discuss their poster with attendees. 

Authors selected to present will be notified via email by Monday, March 9, 2026. 

Schedule:

Submission site open now: Abstract Submission Site