president ' s message

2016 may be remembered for nasty campaigns and“ fake news;” let’ s hope 2017 will be decidedly more factual.

At the same time, we must not underestimate our resiliency and capacity to manage change as circumstances change. Our communities look to public health laboratory scientists for leadership, so this is not the time to be paralyzed with uncertainty. We need to leverage APHL’ s vision of“ a healthier world through quality laboratory systems” by providing leadership, and we need to influence the people, policy and procedures throughout our spheres of influence, not just those we directly supervise. Influencing people can be as big as testifying before the legislature, or as( seemingly) small as judging a science fair.

So I think laboratory science leadership is pretty important, both as a laboratory director and as APHL’ s president. Here are a couple more of my priorities for 2017:

Coordinated & Integrated Zika Testing

Although we’ ve been here before( West Nile Virus, pandemic H1N1, norovirus, etc.), the Zika virus outbreak is unique in its own right. Most of the infected don’ t get sick, yet the virus can seriously harm an unborn child. It’ s mosquito-borne and sexually-transmitted. Cross-reactivity with other flaviviruses in serological tests disrupts screening and confuses confirmation. Consequently, a successful response requires corporate, clinical and public health coordination and integration.

Specifically, we need to identify barriers to timely case identification and specimen transport( pre-analytic) and to meaningful results delivery( post-analytic). We need to continue to improve Zika algorithms and keep everyone informed of those changes. We need to educate corporate test developers about testing requirements, so they can make new assays available to our clinical partners. We need to continue to monitor test performance, ensure timely public health reporting and assure access to confirmatory services.

So think of the Zika response as a relay race. Before passing the baton over to the next“ runner,” we need to make sure it is firmly in their hands before we let go. APHL is committed to helping with this; I certainly am as president.

Smarter Antimicrobic Therapy

Speaking of races, the bugs seem to be beating the drugs. Lab folks may not control prescriptions, but we need to get in the game with providers, epidemiologists, pharmacists, clinical labs and manufacturers to reassert humanity’ s dominance over the single-cell super bugs. We need to get advanced detection and characterization methodologies validated to improve antibiotic awareness that can inform decisions for individuals and populations. The ELC cooperative agreements greatly expanded resources to help address resistance, but funding is more uncertain under the new administration( remember, don’ t get paralyzed). In 2017, the Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory Network will begin providing services, and the new APHL / CDC Antimicrobial Resistance Fellowship will welcome its first cohort master’ s and doctoral level graduates. These are important steps, and I look forward to working with APHL staff and members on these, and the many other issues facing our little corner of the universe.

– A. Christian Whelen, PhD, D( ABMM), president