On the 4^th of June, 2022, which was the 15^th quarterly meeting of the Iranian Epidemiological Association, a scientific conference was conducted on monkeypox at Pasteur Institute of Iran.

Firstly Professor Rahim Sorouri, the general director of Pasteur Institute of Iran, lectured on the role of Pasteur Institute of Iran in responding to the outbreak of infectious diseases during more than a century of activity. He mentioned the role of this institute in controlling epidemics of plague, cholera, smallpox, relapsing fevers, tuberculosis, and rabies and meanwhile in controlling the pandemic of COVID-19 and developing the monkeypox diagnosis in Iran.

Following this lecture, Dr. Mohammad Mahdi Gouya, the Director of the Communicable Diseases Control Center in the Ministry of Health gave a lecture on the challenges of responding to future pandemics.

Dr. Babak Eshrati, the epidemiologist; Dr. Ali Maleki, the virologist; Dr. Amitis Ramezani, and Dr. Behzad Amiri, specialists in infectious diseases and tropical medicine, respectively presented a lecture on epidemiology, and its history; virology and its identification; clinical appearance; and the status of the monkeypox care system in Iran.

Last but not the least, under the panel of Epidemiology, Dr. Ali Akbar Haghdoost, the epidemiologist, and Dr. Farid Najafi, the president of the Iranian Epidemiological Association, lectured on the role of epidemiologists in future pandemics; and the plans ahead of the Iranian Epidemiological Association in the new round of activity.

The scientific secretary of this conference was Dr. Ehsan Mostafavi, epidemiologist, and the director of the research centre for emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases at Pasteur Institute of Iran.