COVID-19 revealed stark gaps in the implementation of infectious disease diagnostic and surveillance tools. While initiatives to spur new innovations (such as RADx, a tech initiative out of NIH) are critical, there remains a striking gap relating to how these tools come together to garner public trust, identify upticks in circulating viruses, provide clinical information, link individuals to care, and give policy makers the information needed to make decisions and communicate those decisions to the public. Different sectors have different needs in these areas, as well, making solutions complex.
To help address this problem, the New York City Pandemic Response Institute (PRI) is inviting up to 50 leaders across sectors of society (e.g. community, social service, public health, corporate/industry, government) to participate in a diagnostic tests and solutions delivery workshop and related activities.
Your participation will help in the creation of a plan (with associated specific PRI projects) to improve the development, accessibility, and data utility of disease diagnostics to achieve more rapid, widespread, and equitable access to diagnostic tests for individuals while improving decision-making for policy makers and clinicians. Please let us know if you are able to join by Friday, January 20th.
This invitation is intended for the recipient and is non-transferrable. We are actively monitoring public health guidance and may make changes to the format and schedule of events.
Focus Areas
Across community, industry, public health, healthcare and government, stakeholders have described interconnected challenges in three key areas:
- Diagnostic Tests Development, including expediting disease specific biospecimen sharing, test design, test development, test assessment, quality assurance, and meeting the needs of public health officials.
- Diagnostic Tests Accessibility and Usability, including rapid scaling of production and commercialization for widespread/equitable access, using innovative tests as diagnostic/sentinel tools across diverse communities, and ensuring that jurisdictions are not constrained by market conditions in acquiring tests. This includes testing of diagnostics within and by communities, establishing trust in test performance and equitable distribution.
- Diagnostic Tests-Related Data Availability and Security, including retrieving and analyzing data from home/innovative tests for public health decision-making, improving data reporting with the private sector, enhancing data validity, and sharing of findings with communities to better understand the situation in their neighborhoods.
Activities
Your participation would require you to attend the following:
- Level Setting Meetings – Check your email.
- Participant Dinner – January 26, 6-8PM, Red Rooster Harlem
- Day-long workshop on January 27th, 8AM – 5PM
- Post workshop follow-up discussion and plan review – TBD
Day-long Workshop Agenda
A draft agenda is noted below, which will be refined by the organizing committee.
- 8:00AM – 9:00AM: Registration and Breakfast
- 9:00AM – 9:50AM: Welcome, Goals/Framing, Substantive Issues within Diagnostics
- 9:50AM – 11:20AM: Round 1 – How do we design and make tests when we need them?
- 11:20AM – 11:30AM: Break
- 11:30AM – 1:00PM: Round 2 – How do we manufacture many tests, get them to everyone, and ensure they’re used well?
- 1:00PM – 2:00PM: LUNCH
- 2:00PM – 3:00PM: Round 3 – How do we gather data from these tests, analyze it together, and communicate it well?
- 3:30PM – 3:45PM: BREAK
- 3:45PM – 4:30PM: Issues & Solutions Recap – Prioritization of Solutions
- 4:30PM – 4:50PM: Next Steps
- 4:50PM – 5:00PM: Close