I-TECH is currently selecting participants for a new, innovative program designed to strengthen the leadership and management skills of clinical and public health laboratory supervisors.
I-TECH and the University of Washington are committed to training clinical and public health laboratory managers and directors to take on important roles such as advocacy, policy development, and inter-agency coordination to be more effective leaders in public health.
This nine-month long professional certificate program was developed at I-TECH under the direction of Dr. Robert Martin, a professor in the Department of Global Health, and consists of a series of distance-learning courses to accommodate course participants who are mid-career working professionals. Participants will meet one another and program faculty during two face-to-face meetings at the beginning and the end of the program.
Each participant will be also assigned a mentor from their country who is a senior-level laboratory director and will work with the mentor to design and execute a project related to improving their laboratories’ operations. This Capstone project is an individualized part of the curriculum that can be customized to meet the goals for each laboratory. At the end of the program, participants will present their projects to fellow program participants, mentors, and faculty.
The program begins in January 2014 and features four new courses on laboratory systems, law and regulation (online), implementing diagnostic technology (online), and laboratory data analysis and communication (online). A leadership and management course taught by Dr. Ann Downer, an associate professor in the Department of Global Health, has been customized for this audience.
This multi-course certificate is initially being piloted in the Middle East and North Africa and is open only to senior laboratory leaders from that region by invitation. Eligible countries include Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Yemen, Lebanon, Pakistan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Morocco. Participants come nominated by their Ministry’s of Health and will remain employed while participating in this program.