Straight Talk: Dr. Gavin Macgregor-Skinner Joins ISSA as Director of GBAC [Video]

NORTHBROOK, Ill.—May 17, 2020—In this edition of Straight Talk with Jeff Cross, Dr. Gavin Macgregor-Skinner discusses his new position as director of the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC), a division of ISSA, beginning May 18.

Dr. Macgregor-Skinner, an infection prevention expert and consultant, has spent his entire career working with highly infectious diseases that don’t have cures or vaccines, such as Ebola virus and now, SARS-CoV-2.

In his new role with GBAC, Dr. Macgregor-Skinner will work with a cohort of experts to develop protocols and systems with cutting-edge education for the global cleaning industry to empower facilities, businesses, and cleaning professionals to create safe environments. He shares that most of the organizations and facilities that he works with have a hierarchy and that “it’s very challenging to get the skills and competencies and the right approaches into a hierarchical situation.” His goal is to get the best known tools and approaches into the right hands so that we can reduce the viral load and protect the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our umbrella is all about implementation research and implementation science, helping and working with all the wonderful people, the colleagues that we have within the cleaning industry and the restoration industry,” said Macgregor-Skinner.

Dr. Macgregor-Skinner explained that GBAC came about when he and other colleagues came together to discuss issues and solutions during the 2014 Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa. “It’s not about individuals solving complex problems, it’s about the team, and it’s from that team that led to the birth and the evolution of the Global Biorisk Advisory Council.”

Composed of international leaders in the field of microbial-pathogenic threat analysis, mitigation, response, and recovery, GBAC provides training, guidance, accreditation, certification, crisis management assistance, and leadership to government, commercial, and private entities looking to mitigate, address, and recover from biological threats and real-time crises. The organization’s services include biorisk management program assessment and training, Forensic Restoration^® response and remediation, the GBAC STAR™ facility accreditation program, training and certification of individuals, and consulting for building owners and facility managers.

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