Executive Vice President's Message
Cooperative Agreement

This is an exciting time for CLSI. We have been awarded a cooperative agreement grant by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for capacity building for HIV/AIDS prevention in selected resource-constrained countries as part of the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).  It’s a new type of activity for CLSI, and will go a long way towards achieving our vision of global growth, and fulfilling our mission to place our products where they will be of the most benefit to the most people—thereby improving health care worldwide.

As the name “cooperative agreement” implies, CLSI will not be working alone.  Aside from close coordination with the CDC, we will be coordinating our efforts with other CDC partners, such as ASCP and APHL.  Having just met with our partners last week in Atlanta, we are excited to get started down this new road, and also to add value to the already existing efforts of our partners.

Our key volunteer leader for the project will be Dr. Michael Noble.  Dr. Noble is well known to CLSI volunteers and staff, as he has been instrumental on a number of CLSI projects in the past—perhaps most notably in the Quality Systems area.  Dr. Noble is Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the School of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, and has strong international experience. 

Working with Dr. Noble as the key staff liaison for the project will be Jennifer McGeary, Director, Standards and Quality at CLSI.  Jennifer is well versed in our products and services—in the field of Quality Systems in particular.

Our activities related to the cooperative agreement may be broadly categorized into two areas:  Core and Country-Specific.

Core Activities:
•  Develop basic and easy-to-use guidelines and/or standards.
•  Develop customizable templates for technical procedure manuals for HIV rapid testing and related laboratory testing.
•  Develop training packages that ensure infrastructure readiness and effective delivery of training.

Country-Specific Activities:
•  Verify training effectiveness.
•  Develop guidance on methods for carrying out internal and external audits.
•  Develop new, supportive relationships.
•  Develop active participation in CLSI and international standards-development activities.
•  Develop a specifically designated CLSI membership category for selected resource-constrained countries.

It is due to CLSI’s outstanding global reputation for high quality products and services that we have been awarded this agreement.  We have all of you—our volunteers, members, and customers—to thank.  We look forward to keeping you updated as our activities advance.

Glen

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