The proposal from the Southeastern National Tuberculosis Center (SNTC) will address the public health goal of TB elimination by building on our previous success, our relevant programmatic experience, and relationships as a CDC funded TB COE. We will continue to use our experience
assisting TB programs and clinicians to implement new technology, in a
personalized/individualized manner that best fits the needs of the program, clinician, and patient. We will continue to provide and exceed the amount of training required by the grant. We have and will continue to provide education that uses the most appropriate and latest technology and
approaches and expert medical consultation to US TB programs, as we have over the past 18 years. We will use our perspective as an experienced COE to innovatively link public health-based TB
experts with a range of providers serving vulnerable populations at-risk for TB, such as refugees, PLWHIV, non-US born individuals in support of CDC efforts to focus on LTBI testing and treatment as a key component of TB elimination in the US. To fulfill our purpose as a TB Center of Excellence (TB COE), these measurable outcomes will allow us to measure progress towards achieving our goals. These outcomes are focused around
two strategies, (1) TB Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: Communication, Education and Training and (2) TB Patient Care Management: Expert Medical Consultation.
By the end of this project the COE will achieve all of these outcomes: Increased knowledge and skills related to TB and LTBI prevention and control among public health staff and healthcare workers; Increased access to and use of TB educational resources; Expanded availability and use of expert consultations for provider networks serving populations at high-risk for LTBI and TB; Increased understanding of regional and national trends of TB patient care needs; and train the
next generation of TB expert. In this proposal we demonstrate, that we have an will continue to build on our experience and lessons learned over 18 years as a CDC funded TB Center. We plan to continue to move forward collaborating with CDC and other TB partners as follows: Engage
and collaborate frequently with regional state and local TB control programs as well as diverse institutions that serve HIV patients, refugees, and other immigrants including federally qualified health centers and civil surgeons in the private sector; We will continue to be actively involved
and lead national and local TB education meetings; We will further develop our relationship with the US Panel Physicians and the CDC Division of Global Migration and Quarantine (DGMQ).
TB disproportionately affects minority populations that have historically experienced greater barriers to healthcare services. The SNTC has been committed to serving these populations disproportionately affected by TB and LTBI. Over the last 18 years, we have demonstrated that we have the organizational capacity to implement the approach described throughout this proposal. The SNTC utilizes evidence-based evaluation and performance measurement strategies to monitor our success in achieving short, medium, and long-term goals identified in the needs assessment.
This proposal shows our capacity and commitment to developing the capacity of the US TB workforce.