Silver Spring, MD, Sept. 18, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) presented awards to leaders in the field of newborn screening during a ceremony held Monday, September 11 at the 2017 APHL Newborn Screening and Genetic Testing Symposium. We commend the exceptional and innovative work of all those who were nominated.
The following awards were given:
George Cunningham Visionary Award in Newborn Screening – This year’s recipient is Jeffrey Botkin, MD, MPH, Chief of the Division of Medical Ethics and Humanities in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Dr. Botkin worked to improve the newborn screening program at the national level while serving as a committee member of the United States Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children (ACHDNC), and at the state level while serving as chair of the Utah Newborn Screening Advisory Committee. His research, funded by the National Institutes of Health, has influenced the national dialogue and policies on newborn screening and secondary uses of residual dried blood spots. At the state level, Dr. Botkin’s leadership on the Utah Newborn Screening Advisory Committee was critical during the addition of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) to Utah’s newborn screening panel.
Harry Hannon Laboratory Improvement Award in Newborn Screening – This year’s recipient is Joseph Orsini, PhD, a research scientist in the newborn screening program at the New York State Department of Health. Dr. Orsini has been critically involved in implementation of Pompe and x-linked Adrenoleukodystrophy (x-ALD) screening in New York, and routinely offers his expertise on implementation of lysosomal storage disorders and x-ALD to other states and countries. He is also responsible for the implementation of state-wide screening of Krabbe Disease in 2006. Dr. Orsini co-chaired the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) Document Development Committee for publication of the CLSI document on Newborn Blood Spot Screening for Pompe Disease by Lysosomal Acid a-Glucosidase Activity Assays. He has further impacted newborn screening quality improvement through his role as co-chair of the APHL Newborn Screening Quality Assurance/Quality Control Subcommittee.
Judi Tuerck Follow Up and Education Award – This year’s recipient is Thalia Wood, MPH, retired manager of the Children’s Health Unit for the state of Alaska (the newborn screening program’s overseeing agency) and retired member of APHL’s Newborn Screening and Genetics Program team. During her time in Alaska, Ms. Wood led the newborn screening program to focus on improving the quality and timeliness of specimen collection. She recruited health care and laboratory professionals to be actively engaged in quarterly statewide advisory council meetings. She traveled to and developed relationships with birthing hospitals in the state and delivered hands-on training to the lab and nursing personnel at those hospitals. While serving on the APHL Newborn Screening and Genetics Program team, Ms. Wood was instrumental in managing the APHL/NewSTEPs Short Term Follow-up Workgroup. Her years of experience helped the group define best practices and identify the technical assistance needs in the short term follow up community.
Congratulations to all award winners.
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This program was supported by Cooperative Agreement # 5NU60OE000103 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC or the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) works to strengthen laboratory systems serving the public’s health in the US and globally. APHL’s member laboratories protect the public’s health by monitoring and detecting infectious and foodborne diseases, environmental contaminants, terrorist agents, genetic disorders in newborns and other diverse health threats.
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