By Stephen White ('11, '10)

Most of us probably attended Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center to positively impact those around us. Indeed, the mission of TTUHSC is “to improve the health of people … .” I’ve had the privilege of supporting the Ebola outbreak response and recovery in Liberia for the better part of 2015, thanks, in large part, to the foundation of knowledge and experience gained through the TTUHSC. I want to encourage my fellow and future alumni to consider global public health opportunities, as they can be very rewarding, both personally and to those you are impacting.

I’ve had the privilege of supporting the Ebola outbreak response and recovery in Liberia for the better part of 2015, thanks, in large part, to the foundation of knowledge and experience gained through the TTUHSC. I want to encourage my fellow and future alumni to consider global public health opportunities, as they can be very rewarding, both personally and to those you are impacting.

Local children come out to greet Stephen White as he walks through Tappita.

The unpaved road from Ganta to Tappita turns into mud during the rainy season, sometimes extending a 7-hour drive into a 12-hour ordeal.

When I arrived in Liberia last February, my mission was simple: set up an Ebola diagnostic laboratory in the middle of Liberia. I would soon learn that nothing is simple in Liberia, the sixth poorest country (by GDP) according to The World Bank. Basic infrastructure, such as electricity, roads and facilities are at a premium, creating several challenges to running a laboratory. On an average day, our laboratory loses power twice, for an average of five to six hours each day. There is no established or reliable logistics chain for laboratory supplies in the country. Our organization has partnered with a large international company to provide reagents and consumables, but it is still challenging to move those supplies from the capital city of Monrovia to the interior of the country. This challenge is further complicated by poor road conditions in the rainy season.

The Tappita laboratory staff has increased from one to nine full-time laboratorians and two support personnel.

Liberian technician processes Ebola specimens in a glove box for downstream testing using real-time PCR.

Another challenge to the work in Liberia is the skill set of the laboratorians with which we work. The principles of genetics and molecular diagnostics are not readily taught here. Indeed, the use of PCR as a diagnostic tool, which is ubiquitous in the United States, was largely unknown here until the Ebola outbreak. Training goes beyond simply learning a new procedure and involves teaching basic theory that most of us learned in high school.

Fortunately, the laboratorians that I’ve worked with are some of the most dedicated professionals I’ve encountered during my career. Of course, working with Ebola specimens presents an inherent risk.The utmost care must be exercised when handling potentially infectious specimens. Laboratory space is at a premium in Liberia, and the Ebola labs either use enhanced PPE (Tyvek suits, respirators and double-gloving) or glove boxes that completely isolate the specimen.

Weekly meetings for the Ebola laboratories are held at the Emergency Operations Center at the Ministry of Health and Social Work and attended by stakeholders from various organizations such as the CDC and WHO (L Bryan Gnade, front right).Working in a resource-limited environment has been one of the biggest challenges I’ve ever encountered. At the same time, it has exemplified the education and skills that I was taught at the TTUHSC; it’s not always possible to Google an answer, look it up in a reference text, or even call technical support. The Texas Tech University System can be proud knowing that two of the four Ebola laboratories in Liberia are currently being operated by its graduates. In addition to the laboratory that I maintain, LTC Bryan T. Gnade (TTU Arts and Sciences ’99, '97) with the U.S. Army, has been the laboratory lead in Monrovia for the past three months. Between our two labs, we probably test about 75 percent of the country’s Ebola specimens, showing one of the many ways that the TTU System is impacting the world globally.

Stephen White earned his master’s in Clinical Practice Management and his bachelor’s in Clinical Laboratory Science through the School of Health Professions.