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Dr. Marty Soehnlen - Microbiology Section Manager and Director of Infectious Diseases for the Bureau of Laboratories - Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
Over the month of June, Dr. Marty Soehnlen, the Microbiology
Section Manager and Director of Infectious Diseases for the Bureau of
Laboratories, provided support to the Uganda Ministry of Health. She was asked
to support the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) Global Health
Program with the goal of setting up the new Ugandan Central Public Health
Laboratory (CPHL). Dr. Soehnlen was responsible for providing assistance to the
new governmental public health laboratory with plan development for
microbiology operations to gain molecular testing capabilities, expansion of
clinical testing services, standard operating procedures development that would
allow for international accreditation, and to provide training for the new
procedures. A three year plan for service expansion to include clinical,
environmental, and molecular assays will allow the microbiologists of CPHL to
offer life-saving services to the people of Uganda.
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Dr. Soehnlen (left), demonstrates real-time PCR thermocycler programming to members of the Ugandan CPHL.
While in Uganda, Dr. Soehnlen visited several other national laboratories including district and regional health care centers. The lack of test media, controls, appropriate equipment, and training made microbiology functionally non-existent in numerous locations. This highlighted the need for CPHL to provide testing, training, and assistance to clinical partners throughout the country.
Uganda Ministry of Health CPHL and National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory was built with support from CDC funds.
In addition to planning and guidance provided for laboratory development, Dr. Soehnlen organized the new molecular instrumentation in a unidirectional workflow and trained the staff how to perform both conventional and real time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). One of the interesting areas of guidance provided was with the safety and associated work practices for Biosafety Level-3 (BSL-3) laboratories. This was the first time many of the microbiologists were granted an opportunity to learn about essential laboratory personal protective equipment. Overall, the experience delivered necessary assistance to the people of Uganda and was able to showcase the skills and tests available at the Michigan Bureau of Laboratories.
Dr. Soehnlen (center) and the Ugandan CPHL microbiology employees
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