FOCUS ON FELLOWS
Focus on Fellows : Better Together
By Rudolph Nowak , MPH , senior specialist , Marketing & Communications
“ Not just the clinical side with human infections , but obviously how foodborne disease is prevented in the first place with all the testing that NYSAGM Food Laboratory does .”
An added plus ? The two laboratories are located near one another making the idea of sharing a fellow even more workable .
Anna Sophia Gray
The New York State Department of Health , Wadsworth Center and the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets , Division of Food Laboratory ( NYSAGM Food Laboratory ) found an unexpected opportunity to create a unique food safety fellowship together .
“ From my perspective , when I was reading the goals of the Food Safety Fellowship , it occurred to me that we do food testing , but we don ’ t do it all the time outside of the US Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) retail food study program . Our program is outbreak-related and it ’ s inconsistent ,” said Lisa Mingle , PhD , research scientist and fellowship mentor at Wadsworth Center .
This led to “ feast or famine ” periods for food safety testing at Wadsworth Center . The situation got Mingle thinking about how her laboratory could offer a more robust fellowship experience .
“ We have a pretty good relationship with our partners at Agriculture and Markets . So , I thought , ‘ We should reach out to them because I know they do food testing on a regular basis .’ Even if we can ’ t provide all those experiences all the time , the fellow would be able to get it [ at NYSAGM Food Laboratory ] within the program ,” Mingle said .
Wadsworth Center ’ s Bacterial Diseases Chief Marie-Claire Rowlinson , PhD , D ( ABMM ) added that the partnership gives a much broader perspective on what food safety means .
“ The co-location allowed the individual to experience different facets of the ‘ three-legged stool ’ that represents the three disciplines involved in an outbreak investigation ( Epidemiology , Regulatory , and Laboratory ), while also training in specific microbiological and molecular laboratory techniques ,” said Alyssa Dickey , PhD , food laboratory scientist and fellowship mentor at NYSAGM Food Laboratory .
A Multi-dimensional Experience
Both agencies were conducting combined interviews with fellow applicants when the idea of splitting time between Wadsworth Center and the NYSAGM Food Laboratory was presented . The fellow selected for food safety was a 2022 University of New Hampshire graduate , Anna Sophia Gray . She started her fellowship in August 2022 at Wadsworth Center performing retail food study protocols along with a rotation with the Division of Epidemiology . Maria Lucia Ishida , PhD , director of the NYSAGM Food Laboratory , said they envisioned projects that could take advantage of the resources available within the individual laboratories , with the fellow assuming the lead in the execution of the work .
Gray was unaware of the novelty of her fellowship .
“ I didn ’ t know people did it any other way ,” she said . “ I came into this and thought , ‘ This is great ! I ’ ll get to see two different things .’ It wasn ’ t until I started talking to other fellows that this experience was unique .” Her experience was further enhanced by an opportunity to see the collaborative work of the two state laboratories during a foodborne disease outbreak .
“ I had a two-week stint over at the Wadsworth Center , on their foodborne
As part of her fellowship , Gray went shopping to purchase meat that would be tested for enteric bacteria , as part of the FDA National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring Systems ( NARMS ) Retail Meat program . Photo : NYSAGM Food Laboratory
disease outbreak team . It just happened that on my first day , there was an outbreak of Salmonella in New York State . It ended up being 350 cases .”
She went on , “ Since I already had background knowledge of what was happening to the clinical samples over here at Wadsworth , I went over to NYSAGM Food Laboratory and got an idea of what food sampling and food testing looked like . So , I really got this cool , multi-dimensional view of what an outbreak looks like and all the distinct roles that go into it .”
“ In our minds , it ’ s been a success because she really loves food safety ,” said Rowlinson . “ And I am sure having that broad experience at NYSAGM Food Laboratory and with Wadsworth Center , in addition to going out and doing retail food shopping and coming back and testing it contributed to the success .”
Ishida and Dickey agree the partnership was a success . “ Anna Sophia has been an incredible addition to our laboratory staff . She has been an excellent conduit for communication between the partner facilities ,” Ishida added .
Could this unique approach become common at the two New York laboratories ?
“ We could certainly find other common areas where we could co-host a fellow with Wadsworth Center ,” said Dickey . “ The interaction has been a great experience .” g
4 LAB MATTERS Summer 2023
PublicHealthLabs @ APHL APHL . org