January 7, 2015
The Accreditation Committee of the College of American Pathologists (CAP) has awarded accreditation to the Duke Human Vaccine Institute-Immunology Virology Quality Assessment Center’s (DHVI-IVQAC) biorepository based on the results of a recent on-site inspection as part of the CAP’s Accreditation Programs.
The biorepository accreditation covers the following services:
- Biorepository of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear cells (PBMCs)
- General Specimen Processing
- Specimen Collection, Procurement, Storage, Informatics, and Distribution
The facility’s director, Barton F. Haynes, MD, and laboratory principal investigator, Thomas N. Denny, were advised of this national recognition and congratulated for the excellence of the services being provided. The DHVI-IVQAC Biorepository is now one of more than 7,600 CAP-accredited facilities worldwide.
The CAP, first in the industry to offer an accreditation program for biorepositories, based the program on the principles of its Laboratory Accreditation Program. The U.S. federal government recognizes the CAP Laboratory Accreditation Program, which was begun in the early 1960s, as being equal to or more stringent than the government’s own inspection program. Currently, there is no federal mandate for biorepository accreditation.
The CAP Biorepository Accreditation process, a three-year accreditation cycle, includes on-site inspection, desk review, optional education modules, and gap assessment. As part of the on-site inspection, the CAP uses Accreditation Checklists to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date blueprint of quality practices to assist biorepositories in improving their operations and to ensure quality. Furthermore, a desk review offers a remote review of a biorepository’s quality management plan, certain procedures, and select quality and process statistics. The program is designed to ensure the highest standard of patient care.
About the College of American Pathologists
As the leading organization with more than 18,000 board-certified pathologists, CAP serves patients, pathologists, and the public by fostering and advocating excellence in the practice of pathology and laboratory medicine worldwide. The CAP’s Laboratory Improvement Programs, initiated 65 years ago, currently have customers in more than 100 countries, accrediting 7,600 laboratories and providing proficiency testing to 20,000 laboratories worldwide. Find more information about the CAP at cap.org. Follow CAP on Twitter: @Pathologists.
Contact: IVQAC@duke.edu