Our Team | Program Office for Laboratory Quality Management

	Dr. Lucy Perrone MSPH, PhD, Director of Program Office for Laboratory Quality Management (POLQM), Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia Dr. Lucy A. Perrone is a passionate, innovative leader of laboratory quality improvement programs and offers 18+ years’ experience building and leading multicultural, multi-disciplinary teams to strengthen health and laboratory systems. Dr. Perrone was formerly the Director of Laboratory Systems Strengthening at the International Training and Education Center for Health and an Associate Professor of Global Health and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Washington. Since March 2022, Dr. Perrone is the Donald B. Rix Professor of Laboratory Quality, and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Dr. Perrone is currently the Chair of the ISO 17043 -accredited and ISO 9001 certified Clinical Microbiology Proficiency Testing Program (CMPT), and the Director of the Program Office for Laboratory Quality Management at the University of British Columbia where she leads the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine’s laboratory quality related programs. She holds a Bachelors of Biological Science from Fordham University, a Master’s of Science in Public Health from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and a Doctorate in Infectious Disease Pathology from the University of Texas Medical Branch. Dr. Perrone’s research and practice focuses on a systems approach to clinical and public health issues such as ensuring patient access to quality diagnostic testing, diagnostic network optimization ad sustainability, and improving laboratory quality, systems and governance. In her career, Dr. Perrone has worked closely with foreign governments, NGOs, UN agencies, private industry, and country-based community partners to design, improve, and deliver human-centric tools, innovative processes, and services that improve the health of people in the communities where they live. Dr. Perrone is a passionate educator and a highly experienced designer and implementer of educational programs to produce competent laboratory professionals, transferring deep knowledge of infectious disease pathology, diagnosis, and disease surveillance, as well as corresponding practical interventions for optimal diagnostic testing service delivery at national scale. Dr. Perrone values partnership and local empowerment to solve complex health problems. Dr. Perrone has applied these values in her work, cultivating effective, multi-disciplinary teams and bolstering local leadership to address complex health problems with projects in >25 countries in the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Middle East and Africa. Dr. Perrone has published 25 peer reviewed manuscripts, two book chapters, and 23 publicly available public health practice products including national laboratory strategic plans, national laboratory policies and guidelines, and several successful several e-learning programs for health professionals to support workforce development.
	Dr. Michael Noble MD FRCPC, Professor Emeritus, UBC Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Dr. Noble is the founding Chair and former Managing Director of the Laboratory Quality Management (LQM) program and Clinical Microbiology Proficiency Testing (CMPT) program. Dr. Noble is a Medical Microbiologist and Internal Medicine specialist by training with more than 30 years of experience. He has been an Infectious Diseases physician, an Infection Control physician, a Laboratory Specialist, and a researcher at various times throughout his career. He is a Professor (Emeritus) at the University of British Columbia, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. He has also been actively involved in medical laboratory quality management issues for almost 25 years. Dr. Noble took over the stewardship of the University of British Columbia Clinical Microbiology Proficiency Testing (CMPT) program in 1983, when it was a small regional program for the southwest corner of British Columbia, and developed into a cross-Canada program with international outreach. CMPT is the only medical laboratory proficiency testing program in North America to have been successfully registered to ISO 9001:2015 for its quality management system. In 2002, Dr. Noble developed the Program Office for Laboratory Quality Management (POLQM) to function as a companion program to CMPT to broaden the scope of both in terms of research and education opportunities. The “Program Office” has been successfully engaged in national and international research in laboratory quality management. Through these two programs, Dr. Noble activities have included working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the Standards Council of Canada, the Canadian Standards Association, the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC), the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, and the World Health Organization. Dr. Noble is currently acting as the Senior Technical Advisor for the CLSI cooperative partnership in the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in Tanzania. He is the current Chair of the Canadian Advisory Committee for ISO Technical Committee 212, and serves in the Working Group 1, the developer of the newly established international standard for medical laboratories (ISO 15189:2012 – Medical Laboratories – Requirements for Quality and Competence). For the last 15 years, Dr. Noble has hosted and chaired the Quality Seminar for the Canadian Association for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases’ annual meeting
	Kim Nicholson MLT, BA, Strategic Lead, Medical Biochemistry, BC’s Agency for Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Provincial Health Service Authority, British Columbia Kim Nicholson holds a Bachelor of Arts in Leadership as well as being registered as a Medical Laboratory Technologist with the Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science. The focus of Kim’s MLT career has largely been Biochemistry but he has also spent significant time involved in accreditation, quality management, and informatics. Kim started his career in Saskatoon in biochemistry and developed an interest in informatics. From there he took advantage of job opportunities being offered in the Middle East with the aim of not only broadening his career but to use the opportunity to travel the world. The highly dynamic workforce and resulting career opportunities turned what was to be a 1 year contract into 20. The Middle East not only enabled expanded possibilities and growth in biochemistry and informatics but also opened up quality management and accreditation opportunities. With the College of American Pathologists being the predominant accreditation body operating in the Middle East at the time, Kim not only became adept at navigating the CAP standards and the quality management principles which they inculcate. It was only a small leap to becoming a CAP inspector in the region. On his return to Canada, Kim soon joined the Diagnostic Accreditation Program within the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia. Working as an accreditation assessor with the DAP provided Kim the opportunity to travel the province and work collaboratively with the laboratory community through accreditation. As part of its mandate, the DAP began a project to incorporate ISO 15189, 15190 and 22870 standards within their own, with the eventual aim to offering ISO accreditation to interested laboratories within British Columbia. Kim was an integral part of the team tasked with revising and adapting the DAP standards to be compliant with ISO. Kim now works with British Columbia’s new provincial lab agency responsible for strategic planning of medical biochemistry in the province with a mandate to ensure that clinical laboratory diagnostics are quality driven, achieve excellent clinical outcomes, and remain sustainable by being provided effectively and efficiently.
	Mr. Mario Hemens Laboratory manager at Ontario Public Health in Ottawa Medical Laboratory Technologist, member of CSMLS since 1982 and also member of the CMLTO. MLT training at the IWK Hospital for Children in Halifax, Nova Scotia and worked in various hospital labs across Canada, the United States and Saudi Arabia. Also have experience in the private lab sector having worked at Dynacare in Ottawa and LifeLabs in Victoria. Initial focus of my working career was in hematology/special coagulation. Recent years my focus has changed to laboratory management with an interest in quality management, accreditation, continuous improvement and people development. Certificates in Laboratory Quality Management from UBC and the Michener Institute. Familiar with the CAP and ACD (IQMH) accreditation process, including auditing. Green Belt in Lean 6 Sigma training. Currently laboratory manager at Ontario Public Health in Ottawa.
	Ms. Janice Bittante PMP, BMLSc, MLT, Interim Director of Strategic Planning & Projects, and Laboratory Operations Manager, Lower Mainland Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Provincial Health Service Authority, British Columbia Janice Bittante holds a Masters Certificate in Project Management and Bachelor of Medical Laboratory Science, as well as being registered as a Medical Laboratory Technologists with the Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science. She has over 30 years of experience in medical laboratory operations and a decade of project management experience. Her original focus was in microbiology, but project and operations leadership roles allowed her to round out her experience in all other major laboratory disciplines. Janice has been a leader in both private and public laboratory institutions, which has provided her a depth and breadth of understanding in both community and acute care laboratory service planning, decision making approaches and quality programs. She has a passion for strategic planning and believes in engaging all levels of an organization to fully understand organizational risk, operational need and opportunities for improvement. She is dedicated to elevating the profile of the profession and to developing future laboratory leaders.
	Mr. Phillip Morehouse MLT, CMQ/OE Phillip Morehouse is a Registered Medical Laboratory Technologist with the Canadian Society of Medical Laboratory Sciences and a Certified Manager of Quality and Organizational Excellence with the American Society of Quality with technical, operational and management experience across a wide range of laboratory disciplines both in the public and private sectors. In his current position as National Director of Quality and Regulatory Affairs for LifeLabs, he has direct responsibility for maintaining the QMS which holds a Certificate of Accreditation to ISO 15189 from Accreditation Canada (Formally the Institute for Quality Management in Healthcare). LifeLabs is the largest private Canadian Reference Laboratory performing over 112 million tests annually. In addition, Phillip also has experience with implementing and maintaining ISO 17025, College of American Pathology, Accreditation Canada and the College of Physician and Surgeons Laboratory requirements of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Phillip’s healthcare career spans four decades with leadership experience in five Canadian Provinces including management of integrated laboratory delivery networks, laboratory quality management systems, health authority quality management, risk, privacy, patient experience management and infection prevention and control. This wide range of experience gives him unique insight and understanding of the laboratories contribution to a high quality, efficient, patient centric healthcare system and the ultimate contribution and importance of better Quality Management Systems. He has recently volunteered with CLSI on the Document Development Group for QMS01: Quality Management Systems: A Model for Laboratory Services, 5th Edition and QMS 20: Applying the Cost of Quality in Medical Laboratories, 2nd Edition. Phillip is also a committee member of QMS26: Developing and Managing Laboratory Records and QMS29: Management Review. He has also volunteered as a consultant to the CSMLS Choosing Wisely Expert Panel and is an Instructor in the Laboratory Quality Management Program at the University of British Columbia. This combination of training, teaching experience, committee work and years of leadership experience in Medical Laboratory Operations and Quality Management Systems allows Phillip to provide strategic advice that brings increased value to any initiative. He is very excited for the opportunity to teach in the UBC program and to promote quality improvement globally.
	Dr. Jaya Shrivastava Interim Head of Research and Development at the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust, UK Dr Jaya Shrivastava has over 20 years of experience in the field of Parasitology combining strengths in clinical diagnostics and life science research with advanced expertise in proficiency testing and laboratory quality management. She is a Clinical Scientist with her MSc and BSc degrees from India. She went onto do her D. Phil at University of Oxford on Molecular Epidemiology of Schistosomes. She followed it up with a post-doc at Cancer Research UK investigating a genome wide gene deletion for identification of novel cell cycle inhibitors. She has managed the UK NEQAS’ proficiency testing schemes for Parasitology and successfully run 10 such schemes at global level. Jaya is also an honorary Associate professor at the London School for Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Faculty of Infectious and Tropical diseases). Currently, Jaya is working within the NHS as Head of R&D at RCHT wherein she enables improved health outcomes through integrated research.
	Kilian Songwe PMP, The AG Group, Regional Director -Africa Kilian Songwe is a leader in quality systems strengthening in laboratory medicine on the African continent. He has spent over 15 years on the African continent supporting over 16 government ministries of health, Department of Laboratory Medicine and leading over 35 laboratories at different levels to ISO 15189, ISO 17025 and ISO 9001 accreditation and certification respectively. Kilian was formerly the Principal Investigator for a number of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Cooperative Agreements to support laboratory strengthening. During this time, he developed training curricular and materials, supported mentorships and coaching at laboratory facilities from district laboratories to national reference level laboratories. He also trained laboratory personnel and other ministry of health laboratory personnel on how to conduct both internal audits and external audits using ISO 19011. He is an expert at developing curriculum within context of different countries; he most recently developed the SLMTA Supplemental Curriculum for Uganda that led to the certification of over 45 laboratories by the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM). Kilian is currently a senior consultant for the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention supporting the establishment of National Public Health Institutes in the nine countries of Central Africa of which laboratory systems and network is one of the five key pillars. Kilian is also supporting as a mentor, the Global Laboratory Leadership Program (GLLP) aimed for laboratory directors and senior laboratory professionals to specialize in leadership and management thus allowing for labs to play their key role in the detection, prevention and fight against diseases. Kilian is a member of the WHO -Afro Multilingual Laboratory Expert Training (MELT) team and has supported the review and revision of the WHO -Afro SLIPTA checklist. Kilian was most recently tapped by the World Health Organization, Uganda office to support the ministry of health in Uganda evaluate the laboratories in country for effective COVID-19 testing thus leading to the decentralization of COVID-19 testing and strengthening of all border health post. As the Regional Director -Africa of The AG Group, Kilian works very closely with development partners, government agencies and the private sector to support implementation of quality systems that will result in effective and efficient service delivery for patients and clients to health facilities. Kilian is often invited as quest speaker to international conferences, most recently to the 4th International Forum on Management of Public Health Emergencies in Cameroon, Nov. 2022. Kilian is an expert at brokerage, and was instrumental in convening bodies such as SANAS, SADCAS and KENAS to support LQMS in Uganda. Kilian is trained and is an auditor for ISO 9001, ISO 15189, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001. He holds an MPH from The George Washington University, an MSBA from Strayer University and BSc (Hons) in Medical Laboratory Technology from The University of the District of Columbia.
	Ms. Maggie Ma Program Administrator, UBC Program Office for Laboratory Quality Management
	Mrs. Veronica Restelli Program assistant and Web Manager