ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) Biosafety Project

The Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Biosafety Project addresses challenges in clinical and public health laboratories through the development of a community of practice (CoP). This project is an adaptation of the clinician-based ECHO Model™, developed by the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. The ECHO Model™ invites peers to engage in a virtual environment on a frequent, regular basis where they share support, guidance, and feedback. The goal of this project is to use the ECHO Model to improve biosafety in clinical and public health laboratories by increasing the knowledge and skills of the biosafety CoP members to address previously identified biosafety gaps. The objectives of this project are to: 

• Discuss biosafety challenges among clinical and public health laboratory professionals 
• Foster collaborations and sharing of laboratory biosafety expertise 
• Promote the application of best biosafety practices and advance the culture and practice of laboratory safety 

The ECHO Biosafety sessions will be 60-90 minutes each and occur every four to six weeks. The CoP members convening at the sessions will share best practices, tools, and resources to address biosafety gaps in clinical and public health laboratories.  

For questions, contact DLSbiosafety@cdc.gov.  

Find archived content from the ECHO sessions on diagnostic excellence piloted by the Division of Laboratory Systems (DLS) in 2020.