AYESHA DON-SALU-HEWAGE

Ph.D

Biology

TWDB Outreach and Engagement Team

LABORATORY TRAINING CONTRACTING CONSULTANT SCIENTIFIC SUBJECT

- 02/2023-Present - Training and Workforce Development Branch (TWDB - Division of Laboratory Systems (DLS - Office of Laboratory Science and Safety (OLSS - 40 Hours/Week - LABORATORY TRAINING CONTRACTING CONSULTANT SCIENTIFIC SUBJECT - MATTER EXPERT RESPONSIBILITIES - Provide a broad range of senior-level support as a contracting consultant-scientific subject matter expert - OneLab initiative (OneLabREACH)/ OneLab Test and OneLab network). Lead and consult team - RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENTIFIC SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT - RESPONSIBILITIES - Gather and collate laboratory training content (on topics including laboratory safety, quality, preparedness, and informatics) from reputable sources such as academic journals, professional - OneLab REACH is a supporting learning management system with over 115,000 registrants from US - DUTY SPECIFIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS - Provided consultation to CDC OneLab REACH/ OneLab Test and OneLab network leadership - Analyzed the goals and objectives of clinical and public health laboratory-specific education/training - Identified, described, and engaged in discussions at TWDB-SME strategic planning committee - Served as the lead content curator SME/co-lead SME throughout the analysis, design, development - Distilled and simplified laboratory education/training content to meet plain language standards while - Researched and translated research data/information from CDC-recommended reputable sources - Reviewed 90% of TWDB OneLab Initiative training materials during the first year (2021-2022) to support and enhance its training efforts through OneLab REACH, OneLab Network, and OneLab - Reviewed 73% (eleven out of fifteen) of existing clinical and public health laboratory-relevant - Led a team of eight scientific subject matter experts and developed a Subject Matter Expert (SME - Feedback for the SME Roadshow eLearning Lifecycle Overview Presentation to present to the TWDB leadership to improve the development process (e.g., the chain of communication, course - As the project lead, prepared brainstorming questions, organized weekly team meetings - Created a quality and laboratory-appropriate graphics folder to fulfill the clinical and public health - Reviewed and analyzed, 1462 laboratory course-related images from TWDB internal - Analyzed images and created separate folders for each topic and submitted the Fundamentals of PPE for clinical laboratories-related images as a PowerPoint presentation with analyzed Excel - Collaborated in real-time with other TWDB SMEs, instructional designers, program staff, and other - CDC colleagues in different branches of DLS (E.g., QSSB) to draft and revise scientific content in laboratory training materials and coordinated the efforts as needed - Collaborated with other TWDB Outreach and engagement SMEs and reviewed TWDB standard - Internal Knowledge Base (IKB) acronyms and abbreviations job aid to enhance the TWDB internal - Collaborated with other TWDB Outreach and engagement SMEs and reviewed TWDB Proper AMA - References and Citation job aid to improve the accurate citation efforts of laboratory training - Developed real-world laboratory scenarios and new knowledge check questions (e.g., Basic Molecular Biology course) to use and update existing One Lab REACH laboratory training courses - Led and provided consultation to project members of various trainings and presentations of OneLab - REACH/ OneLab Test and OneLab network and provided technical assistance in training, follow-up, and troubleshooting - Participated, engaged, and provided constructive feedback on Training of Trainers (ToT - Packing and Shipping Division 6.2 Infectious substances and dry ice (dangerous goods) Training - Participated in pilot testing of new OneLab REACH Learning Management System platforms by - OneLab Network Public Health Laboratories (PHL) 101-presentation - Participated in webinar presentation practice sessions (dry runs), provided constructive - Reviewed point of care virtual training webinar PowerPoint presentation, provided constructive - Guided new members on their onboarding process to the team and provided recommendations and assistance throughout multiple projects - Demonstrated strong communication skills (orally and in writing) when dealing with a diverse group - Oral communication skills - Interacted with various team members through different communication channels (e.g., Microsoft Teams, Zoom - Actively participated in virtual SME outreach and engagement team meetings. Interacted and communicated with other SMEs - Participated in weekly virtual TWDB Just-in-Time (JIT) team/Outreach and Engagement - Team meetings, actively participated in team building activities, assigned project - Participated in bi-monthly virtual TWDB meetings, and actively conversed with branch - Participated in DLS/OLSS meetings virtually - Communicated with contracting company officials through phone calls, Microsoft team, and Zoom for project updates, recommendations, guidance, and professional development - Written communication skills - Constructed clear, concise formal emails daily to communicate with internal and external - Constructed and developed job aids, toolkits, project summary sheets, clinical and public - Participated and actively engaged in agency-wide, and external various webinars, workshops, and Zoom meetings to share and learn best practices related to instructional technology and instructional - How virtual learning changes the way we teach. (05-16-2022 - Plain language in e-learning. (04-06-2022 - Hybrid Presentations: Maximizing Presence and Performance. (09-15-2022 - Communicating Clearly: Cross-Agency Perspectives on Plain Language and Presenting - Data-virtual panel discussion. (10-20-2022 - How to make virtual learning interactive and seamless. (12-15-2022 - Learn How to Select the Right Training for Your Program and Audience. (01-19-2023 - Continuously attended, and engaged in various learning opportunities (conferences, summits, symposia, webinars, journal clubs) in diverse topics and completed training in different learning - Practiced and demonstrated good leadership skills such as possessing self-awareness, demonstrating - Participated in TWDB/DLS or agency-wide social/healthy events/activities both in person and virtually