Dr Doreen Mainza Shempela

Main Responsibilities:

Disease Surveillance and Pandemic Control.

• Serve as the Public Health Disease Surveillance and Pandemic Preparedness Coordinator for CHAZ, and ensure epidemic and pandemic preparedness, response, and recovery, with an emphasis on local leadership and governance, epidemic surveillance and information systems, health planning, preparation for, and management of COVID-19 and other pandemic-prone infections.
• Serve as a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) community of practice for Specialized Surveillance for Emergency Response.
• Responsible for public health emergency preparedness and response, and participate in genomic data gathering and analysis, and subsequently share it on global platforms.
• Collaborate with the Zambia National Public Health Institute (ZNPHI) and other relevant partners to strengthen disease surveillance health systems, and design healthcare in the implementation of public health programs, including infection prevention and control, risk communication and community engagement, and multi-sectoral partnership development for planning and coordination for disease control and pandemic response.
• Serve as an active member of the national genomic consortium, and provide technical expertise in policy documents that guide the implementation of pandemic preparedness and control strategies.
• Serve as the diagnostic and disease surveillance expert on the CHAZ procurement committee.
• Participate in the formulation of policy documents and guidelines related to surveillance and pandemic preparedness.
• Implement robust pandemic preparedness strategies which include genomic surveillance as part of the disease intelligence system.

Quality Management Systems, Biosafety and Biosecurity

• Doreen is serving as the Africa Regional Subject Matter Expert (Af-RSME) in biorisk management.
• Serve as a quality management laboratory director, mentor, and auditor in implementing robust quality management systems at the CHAZ laboratory and other CHAZ-supported laboratories to ensure adherence to ISO-15189 accreditation standards in Zambia.

Research and Development

• Serve as a Member of the Zambia National Observatory member (ZNHO) of the National Health Research Authority (NHRA) responsible for knowledge management and translation and dissemination of health research findings.
• Serve as the principal investigator and Coordinator for all laboratory research at the Churches Health Association of Zambia.
• Document all laboratory research findings and disseminate them using appropriate channels, such as reports, stakeholder dissemination meetings, and publications in peer-reviewed journals.
• Serve as a member of the scientific committee and abstract reviewer for the National Health Research Authority (NHRA).
• Serve as the Principal investigator for in-country validation studies for new diagnostic kits conducted at the CHAZ laboratory and present reports to the Ministry of Health

Technical and Resource Mobilisation

• Serve as the Lead laboratory Resource mobilization at CHAZ and Co-Lead at the Ministry of Health during Global Fund country proposal writing processes for all laboratory Systems Strengthening and pandemic preparedness and surveillance initiatives in Zambia.
• Participate in various Consultancy teams and provide technical input in formulating and reviewing national Public Health Strategic plans, including HIV, TB, Malaria, and Laboratory Services and Health Supply Chain.
• Provide oversight to managers and lead teams to strengthen laboratory systems and diagnostics, disease surveillance, Epidemics and Pandemics, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), and other focus disease areas.
• Represent CHAZ at all laboratory Policy meetings and formulate national policy guidelines for research, public health, and laboratory services.
• Serve as a Laboratory Systems Strengthening and diagnostic expert at CHAZ and collaborate with the Ministry of Health and other partners in Laboratory System Strengthening in Zambia, which includes Quality management systems, Biosafety and Biosecurity, Laboratory Information Systems, Sample referral systems, and procurement and supply systems.

• Provided regular stock updates to Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies and tracked Laboratory commodities in the pipeline to ensure continuous commodity security for health facilities that were being serviced by the CHAZ.
• Preparation of all CHAZ Procurement and Supply Chain plans and feeding them into the national procurement plan for pharmaceutical and laboratory products in collaboration with ZAMMSA.
• Training Staff in Good Distribution Practices (GDP) and cold chain management at the CHAZ Pharmaceutical warehouse.
• Arranged partnerships with Regional laboratories for testing medicines and diagnostic products and executed, and maintained the systems for receiving, storing, internal handling, and issuing medicines, Laboratory reagents, medical supplies, and medical equipment that passed through the CHAZ Pharmaceutical warehouse.
• Designed and implemented effective Quality assurance strategies for medicines and laboratory products across the entire supply chain.
• Ensured the appropriate use of storage facilities, equipment, and tools, and the right storage conditions for all medical products at the CHAZ Pharmaceutical warehouse.
• Designed fundraising strategies to facilitate procurement, storage, and distribution of essential medicines and medical supplies for all CHAZ health facilities and assisted health facilities in formulating institutional Medicine and Laboratory policies.
• Worked with the Procurement unit to ensure the timely procurement of medicines, medical supplies, and laboratory reagents.
• Conducted a needs assessment for laboratory reagents, medicines, and medical supplies, and designed and implemented interventions to address gaps.
• In conjunction with the planning and development department, she worked with health facilities to identify training needs and secure training and development activities, including providing on-the-job support to laboratory and pharmaceutical staff.
• Collected, analyzed, and compiled new information and developments in the laboratory and pharmaceutical industry, including new products and diagnostic tools, and disseminated this information to health facilities.
• Planned and delivered training sessions to improve employee effectiveness and address areas of weakness.
• Reviewed employee performance and provided ongoing feedback and coaching to drive performance improvement.

• Doreen also served as a Lead Country Public Health Laboratory Consultant for the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) in Zambia, a PEPFAR Implementing Partner, working with the Ministry of Health. Some duties included providing guidance and technical support to the Ministry of Health on the HIV Quality Management System, and providing guidance and technical support in formulating the National Laboratory Strategic Plan.
• Coordinated meetings between foreign investors and relevant government officials.
• Negotiated contracts with vendors and suppliers to reduce costs.
• Established relationships with key stakeholders in the public and private sectors.

• Conducted comprehensive research and data analysis to support strategic planning and informed decision-making.
• Worked with cross-functional teams to achieve goals.
• Provided support and guidance to colleagues to maintain a collaborative work environment.
• Collaborated closely with team members to achieve project objectives and meet deadlines.
• Utilized advanced technical skills and expertise to troubleshoot complex problems and implement solutions.
• Strategic planning, managing the implementation of HIV/AIDS activities and budget, and providing oversight of the CHAZ HIV/AIDS prevention program.
• Working closely with government ministries and agencies, the National AIDS Council, and other stakeholders to ensure CHAZ participates effectively as a key national partner in activities related to HIV/AIDS.
• Review, in collaboration with the Grants Unit, HIV/AIDS project proposals from Lead Sub-recipients (LSR), sub-recipients, faith-based organizations, and health facilities, and prepare quarterly disbursement schedules to sites implementing HIV/AIDS programs.
• Review quarterly programmatic reports from health facilities and sub-recipients implementing the HIV program, and ensure quality data.
• Represent CHAZ and participate in all technical working groups related to HIV/AIDS and laboratory services.
• Liaison with the Ministry of Health and other local partners on laboratory policies and integration into the national strategic plan.
• Mentor all CHAZ-supported health facilities in program implementation and laboratory management.

• Collaborated with colleagues in other departments to coordinate projects and research initiatives.
• Participated in seminars and conferences related to current developments in the field of biomedicine.
• Conduct laboratory tests as requested by clinicians.