Director's Letter

Dear Colleague:This summer has brought a number of staffing changes to DTBE. As you know, our former Director, Dr. Kenneth Castro, left DTBE in August 2013 when he was asked to serve as Acting Director of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (DHAP) and officially vacated the position last December. Since that time, I have been serving as DTBE Acting Director. I am honored to have been selected as the new Director of DTBE and officially began serving in this position as of August 11. Read More»

TB Notes Newsletter

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No. 3, 2014

Dear Colleague:

This summer has brought a number of staffing changes to the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination (DTBE). As you know, our former Director, Dr. Kenneth Castro, left DTBE in August 2013 when he was asked to serve as Acting Director of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (DHAP) and officially vacated the position last December. Since that time, I have been serving as DTBE Acting Director. I am honored to have been selected as the new Director of DTBE and officially began serving in this position as of August 11.

I am pleased and proud to be taking the helm of this Division. My reasons for being proud are as varied and numerous as the 175+ staff members working in DTBE. Thank you for your patience as we worked through this process. And thank you for all your congratulations and good wishes.

We have had other leadership changes in the division as well. Bonnie Plikaytis, Acting Chief of the Laboratory Branch (LB), retired in June, and Angela Starks, PhD, was selected as Chief of LB. Jose Becerra, MD, Chief, Data Management and Statistics Branch (DMSB), also retired this summer; Chad Heilig, PhD, is serving as Acting Chief. Eugene McCray, MD, Chief of the International Research and Programs Branch (IRPB), was selected to serve as the Director of DHAP beginning August 11, 2014; Eric Pevzner, PhD, is serving as Acting Chief. Beverly DeVoe-Payton, MS, Deputy Chief of the Clinical Research Branch, retired in August. In addition, William R. Mac Kenzie, MD, Supervisory Medical Officer and Team Lead within the Clinical Research Branch (CRB), has been selected as the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology and Laboratory Services (CSELS) Deputy Director for Science; he will join CSELS in September. You may read more about these and other staff changes in this issue as well as in the previous issue of TB Notes.

The 2014 National TB Conference was held in Atlanta June 11–13, with the theme of “Sharing the Vision of TB Elimination.” Following is a summary, for the benefit of those who were unable to attend. Pre-meetings were held on June 10, with the new Epidemiology Section of the National TB Controllers Association (NTCA) meeting for the first time. On June 11, during the first general session entitled “Defining the Vision of TB Elimination,” Dr. Jenny Flood discussed challenges for TB control and elimination, and Dr. Jonathan Mermin discussed, “What are the big unanswered questions?” Dr. Dick Menzies provided the keynote speech on “What’s Really Limiting Treatment of TB Infection?” He suggested that the problem with latent TB infection (LTBI) is not getting people to complete LTBI, but in getting many more of the correct people, such as close contacts, to actually start it.

The second general session was devoted to using epidemiology to inform public health intervention in key populations. Dr. Tom Navin, moderator for the session, concisely summed up the session with the statement, “Just because cases overall are declining, does not mean that cases in subpopulations are declining ... keep an eye on sentinel populations to get an early warning of potential problems.”

The third general session was titled, “From Here to Elimination: Diagnosing and Treating TB Infection.” The session included presentations on the TB skin test and the TB blood tests, the different regimens available such as 4 months rifampin (RIF) and 12-dose isoniazid/rifapentine (INH/RPT), and using risk assessments to target the populations who would benefit the most from LTBI treatment (close contacts and foreign-born persons).

On Thursday morning, the Regional Training and Medical Consultation Centers (RTMCCs) held break-out sessions for NTC attendees from their respective regions. This was followed by the fourth general session, “Applied Innovations for TB Control and Elimination.” There were two talks on an initiative called ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes); using video-conferencing technology, the ECHO program trains primary care providers to treat remotely located patients with complex diseases. We heard a talk on using social media to enhance routine TB control, and we also heard several presentations on different ways to do video observed therapy. At a break in mid-afternoon, the 2014 NTCA awards were presented; please see the related article in this issue. Later that afternoon, we had a choice of five different break-out sessions to attend on topics that included innovative uses of genotyping, stories of TB survivors, treating multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB to cure, TB and diabetes, and an update on the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine’s (DGMQ) technical instructions.

On Friday morning, at the start of general session five, NTCA poster competition winners were announced; we include that report here. The general session, “Sharing the Vision with Our Partners,” provided an opportunity to hear from partners such as the Treatment Action Group (TAG) and TB Voices, the Migrant Clinicians’ Network, the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, Stop TB USA, and public health laboratories. We heard about the concept of an LTBI reporting system for the states, as well as the voices of former TB patients. Dr. John Bernardo provided closing remarks, and at noon the meeting was officially adjourned.

I believe we have now entered a more stable time, with the resolution of various leadership vacancies and with another successful National TB Conference behind us. I look forward to all of us being able to work with renewed energy and focus on the tasks at hand and continue the successful inroads we are making against tuberculosis. I sincerely hope all of you have a safe, enjoyable, and productive summer. Thank you for the important work you are doing.

Philip LoBue, MD, FACP, FCCP
Director
Division of Tuberculosis Elimination
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention