In normal times, clinical microbiologists are often invisible. They’re hidden away in hospital laboratories developing and overseeing diagnostic tests, and so are the bench technologists who run those tests. That’s different now. These scientists are on the front lines of the pandemic, testing patients’ samples for the coronavirus. But there are not enough of them.
In 2016, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted we needed 12,000 new clinical laboratory professionals each year to meet rising demand. That includes clinical microbiologists, highly trained scientists with Ph.D.s or medical degrees. But just an estimated 5,000 laboratory professionals enter the work force annually. Clinical microbiology laboratories today have more than 10 percent vacancies, and the pandemic has only compounded the shortfall. (Luckily, we’re not in short supply of the kinds of microbiologists who look into the basic biology of the virus, develop drugs to kill it or are working on a vaccine.)
To rapidly scale-up testing we propose a biomedical version of the National Guard, a rapid response force of microbiologists and other scientists who could help reinforce the health care system during pandemics. This would let hospital laboratories serve as the backbone for medical diagnoses in a pandemic. These laboratories are critical, because an estimated 70 percent of medical decisions are based on diagnostic tests.
While clinical microbiology personnel in hospital laboratories are stretched thin, thousands of research scientists with requisite education and skills (albeit without clinical laboratory training), are stuck at home because their research laboratories have closed. Many of them would welcome the chance to support clinical laboratories and help contain the pandemic. Right now, though, they cannot because they lack the training and certification.
A microbiologist National Guard could help us overcome this challenge, which is essentially a numbers game. Currently, we have roughly 2,500 microbiologists working in clinical laboratories. During a pandemic, staffing demands surge rapidly because we need to develop and deploy new tests early on. Although there wouldn’t be time to thoroughly train new people, those who already have some training could provide a lifeline. They could help produce, administer and get results from more tests, faster.
The investment would be relatively small. We have an overflow of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows currently training in microbiology and it would require us to recruit about 4 percent of them. That would mean roughly 300 scientists could deploy to hospitals or from remote support centers, with board-certified clinical microbiologists supervising them. Of course, we know clinical microbiologists do not appear out of thin air. They require long, expensive training. Yet many of these students and fellows would welcome the chance to join this part-time project for additional practical training and stipend support.
The infrastructure to create this project already exists. For instance, our organization, the American Society for Microbiology, works regularly with federal and state governments to promote microbial sciences in the public interest. Now, we serve as a convener, working with the White House and Food and Drug Administration to identify roadblocks impeding coronavirus testing. We and our peer organizations, which represent other scientific and economic disciplines, could partner with governments to create the program, recruit scientists, set up training and serve as the “on switch” when deployment is needed.
This proposal is not a complete solution, of course. We need more supplies, equipment and testing materials as well as a responsive regulatory system that provides laboratory directors with appropriate latitude to develop and deploy testing. Still, without adequate personnel, testing materials are useless.
This will not be the last pandemic we face. Indeed, microbiologists have long warned of the dangers of a fast-moving novel virus and are already warning of the next one. Let’s give ourselves a head start by creating a force of microbiologists.
Stefano Bertuzzi is the chief executive of the American Society for Microbiology, where Robin Patel is the president.
