Ms Valerie Wilson

Ms Valerie Wilson is an Immunologist and public health manager who has provided leadership and technical advisory services to Ministries of Health, private and public sector laboratories and staff in 23 countries within the Caribbean region, through her work as Laboratory Manager and later as Project Manager for the European Union funded Laboratory Strengthening Project at the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC/PAHO/WHO) from 1990 to 2007. From 2008 to date she has been Director of the non-governmental organization, CMLF, established in 2008 to support lab strengthening within the Caribbean region.

Ms Wilson has extensive experience in the areas of public health laboratory reference services, laboratory management, quality and strategic management. She led the initiative to raise awareness in the Caribbean region with respect to the need for medical laboratory standards, quality management systems, and regulation. She facilitated the development of a framework for national laboratory policy that was endorsed by Caribbean Ministers of Health in 2014 and guided the development of national laboratory policies and strategic plans for laboratory services in several Caribbean countries. Her work at CMLF has also focused on improving national and regional laboratory networks including rapid testing for HIV and STIs. 

Internationally, Ms Wilson has served as a volunteer to the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), assisting laboratories working towards accreditation in Africa. She is currently a member of the PAHO Regional Validation Committee for Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission (EMTCT) and previously served on the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on In-Vitro Diagnostics (SAGE-IVD).