LEAD PATHOGEN GENOMICS CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR EDUCATION
Background and Purpose:
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed gaps in public health readiness for infectious disease response while rapidly accelerating the use of genomic surveillance and epidemiology in global public health. The technologies (e.g., microbial sequencing, phylogenetic analysis, molecular diagnostic assay development) supporting an infectious disease response all require specialized, state-of-the-art knowledge. Many public health departments need advanced training to tackle these challenges.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MADPH), Harvard Medical School (HMS), the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (Broad), and the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness (MassCPR) were recently named as members of the Lead Pathogen Genomics Center of Excellence (PGCoE) for Education as part of the PGCoE network created/funded by the CDC. The overarching purpose of the Lead PGCoE for Education is to provide world-class training to prepare the state and local public health workforce for pathogen genomic surveillance and outbreak response. This collaboration will provide numerous resources, new content, and innovative experiences.
The Lead PGCoE for Education has three aims:
- Perform a landscape analysis to identify gaps in knowledge, training, and workforce capacity, assess needs, and review current resources which will guide the development of educational offerings;
- Create a PGCoE portal and accreditation program with curated online training offerings by aggregating and converting the PGCoE’s existing curricula and developing additional content for asynchronous and synchronous modules; and
- Develop advanced and non-traditional learning opportunities via hybrid and experiential courses, “Train-the-Trainer” programs, a potential new Master’s Degree Pathway, and novel learning experiences.