member spotlight
100 Faces of Excellence in Missouri by Nancy Maddox, MPH, writer vice president and president of the International Association for Chemical Testing. After the advent of Public Health Emergency Preparedness funding, Whitmar became a laboratory information program specialist, and then manager of the lab’ s Emergency Response and Outreach Team. Three years later, he was promoted to assistant director, and then director in 2010.
100 faces of excellence at the Missouri State Public Health Laboratory. Photo: MO PHL
Ask Bill Whitmar to talk about the Missouri State Public Health Laboratory, which he has headed since 2010, and he immediately zeroes in on his staff.
“ I’ m the luckiest guy in the state of Missouri,” said Whitmar,“ and I’ ll tell you why. I work with about 100 of the best, most dedicated people in state government. They make this place, this laboratory, the best facility in the state. We cherish our staff. And I salute them for their dedication and excellence.”
From that core asset flows everything else: the laboratory’ s near 100 % proficiency test accuracy rate, 100 % customer satisfaction rate and history of stellar“ above-andbeyond” service delivery. This is good news for the six million Missourians who rely on the laboratory for the full gamut of clinical and environmental public health testing. And, needless to say, the laboratory does all it can to meet their needs.
Given the state’ s sizable immigrant populations in St. Louis and Kansas City, it maintains a specialty in identification of vector-borne pathogens and native and exotic parasites, ranging from Giardia and Paragnonimus lung flukes to the Plasmodium-type protozoans that transmit malaria. It is also a pass-through facility for specimens potentially containing the recently discovered, tick-borne Heartland virus( which are forwarded to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention( CDC) for testing).
Given the ire often directed at certain US government facilities here, it stands ready to screen suspicious, unknown powders that may be submitted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. And, given the region’ s propensity for extreme, short-term weather events, it offers free private well water testing after the heavy downpours that inundate large swaths of this landlocked state.
While Whitmar lauded Missouri’ s extensive Ozarks wilderness area, he also noted that the state’ s abundance of bats, skunks and other rabies-prone species keep the laboratory busy testing over 1,000 animal heads / year for the potentially lethal disease.
Facility
The concrete and brick laboratory building sits on the bank of the Missouri River in Jefferson City, the state capital. The five-story, 117,000-square-foot BSL-3 facility was built in 2007, and now overlooks the river that once occasionally overflowed into the previous laboratory during flood events.
Director
Whitmar’ s tenure with the laboratory began in 1989, when he joined the staff as an associate public health laboratory scientist in the Breath Alcohol Program. He stayed in that job 13 years, while also serving as an executive board member,
Staff
The laboratory’ s staff members include roughly 70 laboratory scientists and technicians and about 30 support staff who operate four non-testing units: the Central Services Unit, which oversees a state-wide courier system and facility maintenance; the Post-analytical Reporting Unit, which interfaces with laboratory customers; the Laboratory Preparedness, Education and Safety Unit, which coordinates preparedness grants, trainings and safety programs; and the Fiscal Unit, which oversees all fiscal matters.
Revenue
The laboratory’ s current, annual budget runs to $ 12.3 million, coming from newborn screening fees( 40 %), federal grants( 30 %), general state revenue( 16 %), Medicaid payments( 8 %), the state Safe Drinking Water Fund( 4 %) and other sources( 2 %).
Testing
Altogether, the laboratory receives just under 300,000 samples and performs over seven million analyses( not individual tests) each year, spread across nine testing units.
Newborn Screening: Missouri has 82,000 births / year and 73 conditions on its state newborn screening panel( including individual lysosomal storage disorders and conditions on the expanded, federal Recommended Uniform Screening Panel).
Molecular Testing: The molecular unit provides specialized services— such as
32 LAB MATTERS Spring 2018
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