Every year at IDWeek, hundreds of attendees enter a room designed to challenge their ID knowledge, problem-solving skills and time-management acumen. Part puzzle labyrinth, part theatrical set piece, part ID‑themed fever dream, Out-BREAK!: An Infectious Escape Room remains one of the meeting’s most popular events.
The magic comes from the team behind it, a group of volunteers who ideate, build and run the event. Several members of this year’s team shared the inspiration behind the 2026 edition and what attendees can expect in Washington, D.C.
A Room That Feels Alive
The escape room is immersive by design. That’s thanks in large part to Huan Vinh Dong, MD, MS, chief pediatric infectious disease fellow at UCLA. His background in performance studies, stage management and lighting design helps give the room its theatrical edge. He’s one of the reasons the lighting feels dramatic, the props look cinematic and the environment feels like a place rather than a puzzle warehouse.
“I love adding last‑minute touches to make things engaging and realistic — to a point,” he said. Those touches are what make participants forget they’re in a convention center.
Sara W. Dong, MD, adult and pediatric transplant ID physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital, leads the creative development team, shaping the storyline and set design. She and the puzzle architects build the narrative arc — the “why” behind the “how” — ensuring the room has a coherent world, logic and sense of adventure. “We’re incredibly fortunate to have IDWeek’s support to bring this experience to life on such an incredible scale,” she said.
Puzzles That Reward Collaboration
The puzzles themselves are crafted to challenge without being overwhelming. Antoinette Acbo, PharmD, BCIDP, clinical assistant professor at Rutgers University’s Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy with a practice site at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, helps design the logic behind clues, making sure every discovery leads somewhere meaningful.
Her advice for participants: Build a multidisciplinary team and come ready to collaborate. “Different levels of experience and varying areas of expertise make for the strongest team,” she said.
Dr. Sara W. Dong echoes that: Communicate constantly. Even stray observations can become breakthroughs.
And Dr. Huan Vinh Dong offers the classic escape‑room truth: If you’re stuck, reset. “Have someone else take a look, or start over after clearing your mind,” he said.
The Logistics Engine Behind the Chaos
Behind the scenes, the escape room runs on meticulous planning — and that’s where HeatherLyn Gray, MPH, CPhT, CEM, CIC, comes in. As an emergency management specialist with Atrium Health, she brings expertise in infectious diseases response and health care emergency management.
Her superpower is situational awareness and problem‑solving — noticing what’s out of place and figuring out how to fix it. On the planning team, she handles logistics: room schedules, staffing plans, game master documents, participant sign‑ups. She also built the online registration system that filled up almost instantly during IDWeek 2025 in Atlanta, where “Overstaphed and Underpaid,” a team of attendees from Boston, took the top spot on the leaderboard, with a completion time of 42 minutes.
Her advice is simple: “Sign up early — spots fill up quickly. And come to have fun. Don’t worry too much about the clock.”
What’s New This Year?
The team promises a literal shift in perspective in D.C. Participants will “shrink down” and journey inside an immunocompromised patient, navigating ID challenges from the inside out. Think The Magic School Bus; Honey, I Shrunk the Kids; and Innerspace blended into one microscopic adventure. (Watch this year's teaser trailer.)
As Dr. Acbo put it: “We’re hoping participants really get the chance to dive in and see a new perspective of infectious diseases management.”
Gray adds one more hint: Be ready to take chances, get a little messy and make mistakes — they’re all part of the fun.
The escape room succeeds because it mirrors the best of infectious diseases: teamwork, curiosity, pattern recognition and the thrill of solving something hard under pressure. This year, the room will be ready for you in Washington. The only question is: Will you escape in time?
Stay tuned for more details, including opportunities to sign up, on the IDWeek website as the meeting approaches.