In 2020, InFORM and five other APHL national conferences and meetings moved online, each with a slightly different format. Throughout the process, APHL provided support for logistics, content delivery and continuing education credits.
The InFORM food safety conference, scheduled for early March, was the first event forced to grapple with the new reality of the pandemic. With a last-minute decision to cancel the in-person meeting and shift to a series of virtual plenary sessions and webinars, the conference team faced the work of canceling the physical event while simultaneously re-envisioning it in virtual form: researching platforms, gathering audience input on which sessions to retain and coordinating with CDC, NEHA, CSTE and other conference partners.
In 2020, InFORM and five other APHL national conferences and meetings moved online, each with a slightly different format. Throughout the process, APHL provided support for logistics, content delivery and continuing education credits. Many sessions were recorded for on-demand viewing and, in many cases, the virtual events had expanded attendance compared with their in-person counterparts. APHL made its annual conference complimentary to all laboratorians this year to support attendance, training and education, community and mental health; the success of this year’s events have led several programs to consider hybrid formats in future years to continue reaching members who might not be able to attend in-person events.
Training in virtual(ly) everything
With long-standing expertise in delivering remote training opportunities and resources, APHL was well positioned to develop a wide variety of new online training options during the pandemic. Some addressed ways to continue to provide essential services during the pandemic, such as a series of hot topic webinars on how to adapt and maintain newborn screening programs and a webinar on conducting food laboratory operations during pandemic events.
Other programs helped guide local COVID-19 responses. A webinar series on education and outreach around biosafety helped train more than 5,000 laboratorians on safety practices during the pandemic, covering how to safely work with several assays and technologies.
Board certification boot camp
In February, APHL kicked off a new, virtual boot camp designed to prepare laboratory scientists for board certification tests. Ten sessions covered the topics needed to meet certification requirements and be ready to lead a moderate or high complexity public health laboratory.
Emerging Leaders go remote
APHL’s Emerging Leader Program (ELP) modified the program on the fly to accommodate pandemic-related restrictions, allowing Cohort 12 to finish on time and enabling a fully remote opportunity beginning in the fall. Freed from size limitations imposed by travel costs, ELP enrolled twice as many participants for Cohort 13. A new Leadership Academy program for APHL staff will offer similar skill development and trainings.
Filling workforce needs
In October, APHL launched a program to help public health laboratories fill workforce needs at a time of high demand and low bandwidth to undertake recruiting. The COVID-19 Associate Program, sponsored by APHL and CDC, assists with candidate recruiting and placement and has placed 13 Associates so far with a goal of placing up to 35.
Online courses in laboratory science
Even before COVID-19 pushed meeting spaces online, APHL was working with food safety testing laboratorians to develop standardized, competency-based online training in the context of a curriculum framework. The first four entry-level courses in the framework—on safety, ethics, basic laboratory math and basic laboratory statistics—launched in late 2020. Though designed with and for food testing staff, these basic laboratory science courses will be appropriate for laboratorians in environmental, agricultural and public health settings as well.
Building for biosecurity
When called upon to help build a new laboratory in Namibia a few years ago, it was difficult to find local architects and engineers with the necessary expertise and training in lab design, especially related to biosafety and biosecurity. To fill this need in the US and abroad, APHL offered a series of four virtual workshops in fall 2020 that examined laboratory design and renovation with an emphasis on biosafety and biosecurity.
Banner: Kim Lewis and Frances Downes work with public health laboratory stakeholders in Jakarta, Indonesia to develop implementation activities for the public health network strategic plan (before COVID-19). Photo: Frances Downes
