SCB Staff Spotlight: Alison Bramhall, MPH
Alison Bramhall joined the SCB team in February 2021, bringing experience in epidemiology and management of public health programs and health policy committees. Prior to joining SCB, Alison worked with the U.S. Department of State's Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC), serving as an HIV/AIDS Country Program Manager. Before her work with OGAC, she joined the American Academy of Pediatrics to review clinical trial research to draft pediatric immunization policy. She has also served as an epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control, serving as the United States SARS Surveillance Officer and SARS Task Force Manager to develop community and public health department preparedness guidance for future pandemics.
To help you get to know Alison a little better, we asked her some questions about herself, her experience at SCB, and what she has learned from leading standards working groups.
WHAT IS YOUR ROLE AT SCB?
I’m a Scientific Program Manager and relatively new to the organization. I have mainly been involved in supporting working groups to facilitate the development of standards. I’m also developing a series of webinars around the standards process. Internally, I've worked with our team to create a standard feasibility review process to our work more efficient and consistent. And, like everyone at SCB, I’m always doing outreach to let people know what SCB is doing so they can get involved. Similarly, I talk to experts to understand their perspectives on technical topics relevant to standards.
WHICH WORKING GROUPS DO YOU SUPPORT?
Currently, I'm supporting the following working groups (learn more about the purpose of SCB’s working groups and how you can participate.):
Sampling Methods for Tissue-engineered Medical Products (TEMPs) (Rapid Microbial Testing Methods [RMTM] project)
I'm also coordinating the NIST effort for the RMTM Consortium.
WHAT CHALLENGES HAVE YOU ENCOUNTERED WHEN LEADING WORKING GROUPS?
Sometimes recruitment of subject matter experts to join working groups has been a challenge. You need to find people with the right combination of expertise and passion for the topic before standard drafting can start, but once a strong group is in place, things begin to move quickly.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOUR ROLE AT SCB?
Each day is different, and so I have the chance to pull different skills from my skillset toolbox all the time! Plus, I get the opportunity to work with the best of the best in the regenerative medicine and cell therapy community to develop standards that will ultimately help others.
WHY DO YOU FEEL SCB IS UNIQUE?
SCB is unique because no other organization is currently doing what we are doing. From the first day I started, I could see that the regenerative medicine community sees SCB as a trusted source of information and support. We’re an unbiased organization with strong relationships with different regenerative medicine stakeholders, including standards developing organizations (SDOs), regulators, and professional organizations.
WHAT ARE SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT YOU?
I used to be my high school mascot for football games—no one ever knew, so I could be as goofy as I wanted to be. I'm also a big interior design fan and enjoy baking. Since I can’t have gluten, I’m always recruiting taste testers for non-gluten free desserts for family and friends.