Welcome

We are honored that you have joined us here in Missoula for the first in-person IHW since 2019. Continuing the efforts of past workshops, we have tried to put together a program showcasing the diverse community of outstanding herpesvirologists from around the world. Our meeting space on the on the University on Montana campus is comfortable and inviting, but if you need to get away, a 15-minute walk will put you in downtown Missoula.  Or if you find yourself craving open spaces and a little exercise, hike to the white “M” on Mt Sentinel that you saw on your incoming flight.

Signing the Montana Organic Act in 1864, establishing the territory of Montana, president Abraham Lincoln remarked, “my favorite state has not yet been invented. It will be called Montana, and it will be perfect.”  Twenty-five years later, in 1889, Montana became the 41st state of the union. 

At the end of the last ice age, a finger of glacial ice advancing from the north dammed the Clark-Fork drainage creating Glacial Lake Missoula. Remnants of the shoreline ebb and flow can still be seen as striations on the surrounding mountains. The Missoula valley lies at the confluence of the Clark Fork, Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers and is the traditional homeland of the Salish, Kootenai, and Kalispel nations. Today, Missoula offers opportunities to experience modern urban amenities including outstanding restaurants, microbreweries, shopping and a thriving arts scene, world-class outdoor recreation, and humbling, reverent calls from the ancient past.

We hope that your 2023 IHW experience is enjoyable, productive and illuminating.

Brent, Katya, and Michael.