Lab Matters Summer 2025 | Page 5

PRESIDENT’ S AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER’ S MESSAGE

Scott Shone: It has been remarkable to be part of the of the trio of past president Tim Southern and then Megan as president and then me as presidentelect. I think the three of us have worked together and it’ s been very informative for me to learn from them and ask lots of questions. And in her decisive nature, Megan has given me direct answers.“ Don’ t worry about this,” or“ This is something.” I think her tenure has been remarkable. And I’ m glad I was in my role to see this and to be with the two of them who are not only colleagues but have become really close friends as well.

Sullivan: And what are you looking forward to as president-elect?

Shone: A really quiet, calm, easy, uneventful tenure. I think that there’ s not a lot going on in the world. So, I’ ll just sit back and rally and let Scott Becker tell me when he needs me, then I’ ll click my heels together and return to Kansas.

Michelle Forman: We all want that!

Sullivan: Yes, we do. You let us know when that happens.

Shone: I appreciate the compliment, Megan, because I 100 % value our teams— not just my team in North Carolina, but all our colleagues across the country. You know, lab directors and public health laboratory scientists don’ t always agree on everything, but we come to this role with a set of core values and a passion that really is not met in most other professions. And it’ s balanced, unfortunately, by modesty and so we know what we all do, and we compliment each other like“ Great job, Megan” and“ Great job, Tim.” I don’ t include myself in this because I’ m a pretty vocal person, but I think we as a community stay silent. And I think that we heard during [ the APHL 2025 ] keynote address that we have to be less modest. What I think I bring is a passion for storytelling. I just love to tell stories and figuring out ways to tell them to whatever audience we’ re telling it to. So, if it’ s a bunch of laboratorians, we can talk geek speak. And that’ s fine. But that’ s not typically the group that needs to hear from us. And so, I was thinking about Megan’ s comments about tours, is when we do that, think about what they may have seen in the news or social media or whatever that came from what we do and try to tie that in and walk by the rabies lab. Remember that Bobcat that tested positive [ for rabies ] last week? We tested that head right here. Or that cinnamon applesauce that got recalled? This is the lab right here. You just walked by the machine that found that. And that makes it real. It’ s hard to have priorities. I know, historically, the presidents of APHL have presidential priorities. It’ s hard to have a specific“ I want to do this for the organization or for the members” because the landscape is not only changed, but still changing. But what I think is important is being true to the goals and our values at all costs because while we lose funding and we might lose members of our team, if we begin to backtrack on what we know is important that’ s when we actually lose. And so I think it’ s a duty of mine to work with Scott and the leadership team at APHL and the board and all the members to figure out how to use my voice to tell the stories so that we can have substantial progress and a very new landscape, but still protect the citizens of our jurisdictions in the way that we know is most critical. g