PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
New Term, Big Priorities in the COVID-19 Era
Over the last few months, I have given
some thought to priorities for my term as
president. In a pandemic year, COVID-19
will be a priority by default and I am
eager to work with APHL on the response.
COVID-19 has kindly given us heightened
resonance with our audiences, and I plan
to tout our contributions to anyone who
can help to bring qualified staff, high
throughput testing, viral transport media,
testing supplies and, of course, swabs, to
our laboratories.
Not surprisingly, it was COVID-19 that led
me to my first presidential priority. Over
the past six months of the pandemic, our
laboratory has solidified partnerships with
hospital and commercial laboratories,
bolstered our relationship with the State
Epidemiologist and strengthened our
leadership role within the state health
agency. Five members of my executive
team now lead various test planning
groups, and I know that other jurisdictions
share our experience, particularly as
states have delved into development of
COVID-19 testing strategies.
This brings me to my first priority:
leveraging public health laboratories’
new stature and unique capability for
connection to lay the foundation for an
enhanced national laboratory system. Our
labs can “network for a stronger network”
by cultivating allies who appreciate our
value because they know who we are
and what we contribute. Simultaneously,
APHL will foster relationships with federal
agencies, representatives on the Hill,
laboratory and public health associations,
health think tanks and its most important
constituency: APHL members. I also plan
to join in advocacy for sustained funding
of public health surveillance through the
“Data: Elemental to Health” campaign and
other efforts to build public health data
systems. While the $50 million in the FY
2021 budget is a promising start, we will
have to keep the pedal to the metal or we
will lose our hard-won gains.
My second priority also relates to
partnerships, but we should already
know these partners well: our associate
institutional members. Though these
members have raised their profile within
APHL over the years, many still have little
or no connection with the public health
laboratory in their state or region. To
address this disconnect, I plan to launch
a task force that will develop strategies to
bring together affiliate and public health
laboratories that share a jurisdiction, and
better integrate affiliate members into
APHL’s work at both the state and national
levels. The task force will have many
questions for these members, including:
• How have public health labs worked
with agricultural, food safety or
environmental health labs?
• How can APHL best meet the needs of
this category of members?
• What products and services would they
find useful?
Racial disparities in COVID-19 morbidity
and mortality have drawn renewed
attention to the structural issues shaping
health outcomes in the US. Recent
incidents of police violence against
people of color have drawn protesters
into the streets, putting more lives at risk
of infection with COVID-19. I know this
is painful and difficult to discuss. I also
understand that public health laboratories
are not central to health agency decisions
relating to health equity, but we need to
be at the table to move change along. My
final priority will be to establish a task
force on health equity that can help us
look inward, and see what we can do in
our laboratories and in our association.
This has been an unfulfilled priority on
APHL’s strategic map and it is time to
change that.
This brings me to my first
priority: leveraging public health
laboratories’ new stature and unique
capability for connection to lay the
foundation for an enhanced national
laboratory system.”
Bill Whitmar, MS
A final word to my overworked friends:
Please remember to take care of
yourselves. This is a very difficult time
to be a laboratory scientist, support staff
or, for that matter, a human being. You
will burn out physically and mentally
if you do not take time for self-care. I
recognize the irony of me saying this
when I have just asked you to cram even
more into your hectic lives. Admonitions
notwithstanding, please, please, think of
yourself. We need every one of you to keep
our population healthy and safe. I look
forward to greeting you in person once
COVID-19 no longer holds center stage in
our lives. •
2 LAB MATTERS Summer 2020
PublicHealthLabs
@APHL APHL.org