With over 20 years of collaboration with more than 30 countries, APHL is uniquely positioned to support the development of laboratory networks, emergency operation centers and laboratory information systems to rapidly respond to public health emergencies. We provide strategic planning, training for laboratory leaders and bench staff, model practices, guidance documents and technical assistance. Below is a sampling of APHL Workshops and Trainings with a full overview available in the Global Health Education and Training Brochure.
Global Health COVID-19 Trainings
APHL offers live trainings in basic COVID-19 response skills, which consist of five one-hour training modules that can be provided virtually or in-person:
Introduction
Provides an overview of Coronaviruses and the laboratory biosafety guidelines related to COVID-19 testing, such as current laboratory diagnostic tests, laboratory biosafety and COVID-19 preventative measures.
Performing a Risk Assessment
Discusses risk assessment, risk management and risk level identifies pathogen risk factors; and teaches how to perform a COVID-19-focused risk assessment.
Validation and Verification
Outlines validation or verification selection, value of the process in quality management, and verification plans and reports.
Principles of Good Molecular Techniques and PCR Troubleshooting
Covers best practices to prevent environment contamination and to minimize and detect contaminant of samples.
Sample Collection, Packaging and Shipping
Focuses on how to collect specimens for COVID-19 diagnostic testing, store them safely, and determine their appropriate shipping and packaging requirements.
To see a full list of objectives covered during these modules please view the
APHL COVID-19 Training Document.
Global Health Workshops and Trainings
Strategic Planning, Lab Testing Policies, and Monitoring and Evaluation
This workshop is designed as a five-day training for laboratory managers and supervisors on laboratory policy development, policy statements, national laboratory documents hierarchy, strategic and operational planning, mission statements, SMART objectives, SWOT analysis, and monitoring and evaluation. Objectives for this course include; describing steps in development of laboratory policy and strategic plan, developing operational plans from strategic plans, monitoring and evaluating the strategic plan as well as identifying essential leadership behaviors and effective communication.
Foundations in Laboratory Leadership and Management (FLLM)
This workshop is designed as a five-day training for laboratory managers and supervisors at all levels which provides basic management skills, including communication and conflict resolution, leading a successful team, problem solving, decision making and finance. Objectives for the course include describing roles and responsibilities as a manager, developing skills to function as an effective manager and how to manage a team effectively. A ten-day trainer of trainers workshop is also available.
Learn More About the Management & Leadership Training Opportunities
Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS)
This workshop is designed as a five-day interactive course for IT specialists and managers which combines didactic learning sessions with hands-on exercises to provide participants with a comprehensive overview of the use of information management systems in the laboratory. Course content includes data collection and data use, paper-based versus electronic data collection systems, a comparison of various electronic systems, central storage systems and back up, and methods of planning and evaluating new systems.
Global Health Security
This workshop is designed as a three-and-a-half day seminar for senior national and regional laboratory personnel which will provide participants with an understanding of Global Health Security and the laboratory's role in Prevention, Detection and Response. Other focus areas include; laboratory networks, priority infections, anti-microbial resistance, biosafety and biosecurity.
Learn More
Interested in learning more about APHL workshops and trainings? Check out our
GH Education and Training Brochure.
Global Laboratory Leadership Programme
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the APHL, have come together to create a leadership development program: the Global Laboratory Leadership Programme (GLLP).
GLLP is a learning program designed to foster and mentor current and emerging laboratory leaders to build, strengthen and sustain national laboratory systems to fill the gaps in advanced leadership learning opportunities in low- and middle-income countries.
Read more about the GLLP here.
Twinning
APHL’s Laboratory Twinning program involves the development of a long-term linkage between a US public health laboratory (usually a State lab) and a partner-laboratory (usually the national public health reference lab) in a low-middle income country. Typically, twinning activities have involved the ongoing exchange of expertise/best practices and information using a variety of formats, including email communications, web-based meetings, and exchange visits between the laboratories.
The APHL Laboratory Twinning program was created as a new/novel approach to strengthening public health laboratories both domestically and around the world in a sustainable, cost-effective and dynamic manner. Building on APHL’s existing relationships with state public health laboratories through its domestic membership base, and with global partner laboratories through its global health work, the Twinning Program aims to establish innovative mentoring partnerships between these two sets of laboratories, providing sustained opportunities for professional development, technical assistance and continuing education.
Learn More About the APHL Twinning Program
Twinning Partnerships
To date, APHL has succeeded in establishing a number of these unique relationships. Through support from the World Health Organization, APHL has coordinated twinning projects between:
- Michigan and Mozambique
- Utah and Barbados
- California and Ethiopia
- New Mexico and Paraguay
CDC has also supported the twinning concept through APHL cooperative agreements. These twinning relationships have included:
- Hawaii and Vietnam
- New York and Botswana
- North Carolina and Guyana
- Florida and Ukraine
- DC and Tanzania
- New Mexico and Uganda
Learn More
For more information about how and why laboratories twin, check out our Twinning Fact Sheet. For funding requirements or more in-depth questions, please contact
global.health@aphl.org.