APHL Trainers Hold Workshop on Data Actionability in Chile

Collecting data is one thing. But how do you actually put it to good use?

That’s the question posed by APHL trainers at a recent workshop to members of the Instituto de Salud Publica (ISP) in Santiago, Chile. ISP is the country’s laboratory division of its Ministry of Health.

In January 2026, APHL’s Adolfo Lara, PhD, specialist, Global Heath, Julia Pringle, PhD, lead specialist, Global Health, and Matthew McCarroll, principal specialist, Global Health, delivered three concurrent sessions that focused on different aspects of data actionability. The trainings, attended by roughly 30 ISP staff, were developed by APHL with funding support from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Global Health Security Partnerships.

Phylogenetics

A training on advanced phylogenetics, a discipline that uses genetic data to understand the relationship between organisms, was requested by members of Chile’s ISP sequencing and bioinformatics team and delivered by Lara.

Phylogenetics can be helpful when scientists are trying to pinpoint the source of a foodborne illness. “It can help us determine, for example, if the infection came from the food itself, the farm where the food was grown or the restaurant where it was served,” explained Lara, who guided six ISP staff through a multi-day training, teaching phylogenetics methods and providing hands-on data visualization exercises to help participants communicate insights to a broad array of audiences.

From data generation to data usability

Pringle led a workshop focused on applying genomics information to public health decision-making. Her training was geared toward participants who may not be experts in genomics but need to understand how the data affects real-time decisions.

“So much of post-COVID work is focused on data generation,” Pringle said. “Of importance now is data usability. Laboratory scientists create this amazing lab report with a phylogenetic tree and all this jargon, but sometimes people don’t know what to do with that. One of the gaps that we’ve been trying to address—and which was a goal of this ISP training—is to really engage with people who are receiving the genomics data and teach them how to use the information to guide decision-making. Sequencing can be expensive,” she added, “so if you’re just generating data but not actually using it to inform public health decision-making, you’re not getting a big bang for your buck.”

Determining LIMS needs

Meanwhile, McCarroll led a workshop focused on helping Chile obtain a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS). LIMS is an information system that provides the infrastructure for labs to store, organize, retrieve, process and streamline certain lab operations.

“A LIMS is extremely beneficial to collect, store and share data electronically, thus making processes more efficient and trustworthy,” McCarroll said. “You have that trust that the documents you need are right there in the system, as opposed to spreadsheets that may have poor quality control and poor data security.”

McCarroll walked participants through how to identify a system that will best fit the country’s needs. Will it need an in-house team with staff programmers, for example, or is it more beneficial to outsource the service?

Chile is now ready to start the request for proposals process for their LIMS and move closer toward meeting their data modernization goals.