The HSP Clinical Diagnostics Fellowship for Melioidosis was created to supplement workshop training with intensive hands-on skill building and mentoring in the laboratory for the diagnosis and reporting of cases of melioidosis. The mentoring process will include the guided development of an implementation plan to ensure that diagnostic methods can be reliably replicated when the trainees return to their home institutions. Post-mentoring, Fellows are provided with small funding for the procurement of specialized reagents and supplies, to encourage and accelerate implementation. Linkages created through this fellowship support real-time troubleshooting, longer-term knowledge and information sharing. Typically, Fellows are clinical microbiologists, clinical pathologists, medical technologists, and other laboratory professionals with demonstrated interest and ability to test for and report Burkholderia pseudomallei. Fellows will have all expenses covered during a two-to-three-week visit to Sappasithiprasong Hospital in Ubon Ratchathani, northeast Thailand, coupled with a brief visit to the Mahidol University Oxford Research Unit, Bangkok. The fellowship will be scheduled for dates that are mutually convenient for both the fellows and the corresponding laboratories.
The objectives of the Fellowship include:
- Mentoring in best practices of quality testing, biosafety and biosecurity;
- Developing implementation plans to establish testing and reporting upon return to the fellows' home institution;
- Networking in the region for continuous knowledge and information sharing; and
- Empowering champions and local trainers for the home institution and the country in the longer-term.
The two-to-three-week Fellowship agenda will include:
- Diagnostic techniques for culture and identification, including use of selective media, latex agglutination assay, and Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing for Burkholderia pseudomallei;
- Best practices of laboratory biosafety and biosecurity;
- Specimen collection and management;
- Quality control;
- Developing an implementation plan to establish testing capacity at the home institution, including essential reagents and supplies requirements and reliable vendors in the region; and
- Mentorship to raise awareness, and train other laboratory staff to support testing.
Fellowship application requirements include:
- Completed fellowship application with candidate statement of interest;
- Candidate CV; and
- Letter of Support from the Head of the Laboratory/Hospital confirming commitment to detection and reporting of melioidosis, as well as knowledge and information sharing within the country and the region.
Application deadline: 1 December 2017
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17. Please attach your CV. *This question is required.
18. Please attach your letter of support from the Head of Laboratory/Hospital. *This question is required.