Performance of nucleic acid amplification following extraction of 5 milliliters of whole blood for diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteremia.

I am based in northern Tanzania where I am Site Leader for Duke University’s collaborative research program based at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre and Director of Tanzania Operations for the Duke Global Health Institute. I oversee the design and implementation of research studies on infectious diseases, particularly febrile illness, invasive bacterial disease, HIV-associated opportunistic infections, clinical trials of antiretroviral therapy and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and infectious diseases diagnostics. In addition, I am a medical epidemiologist with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). My CDC work focuses on enteric infection epidemiology and prevention in developing countries, particularly invasive salmonelloses.

To develop and to evaluate procedures and protocols that support, enhance, and extend the ability of the clinical laboratories to carry out effectively their primary service and teaching responsibilities as relates to detection of sepsis, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and diagnosis of tuberculosis.