The Association of Public Health Laboratories invites nominations for the Gold Standard Award for Public Health Laboratory Excellence. The award is given to an APHL member (either an individual or a laboratory) who makes or has made significant contributions to the technical advancement of public health laboratory science and/or practice. A potential candidate might be one who has designed instrumentation, implemented a new program, developed new laboratory methods, or conducted innovative research that has resulted in significant improved technology for application in public health and/or medical diagnostic laboratories.
Formal recognition of the APHL Gold Standard Award will be presented at an awards luncheon at the Annual Meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio on June 6-9, 2010.
Submit Nominations by April 2, 2010 to:
APHL Gold Standard Award
ATTN: Anna Dillingham
8515 Georgia Avenue, Suite 700
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Fax: 240.485.2700
Email: anna.dillingham@aphl.org
Word nomination form
or
Submit nomination online
Nomination Requirements
- Nominees must be a member of APHL.
- An individual may not be self-nominated.
- The Membership and Recognition Committee will review all nominations; its recommendation will be considered and decided upon by the Board of Directors.
- Members of the Membership and Recognition Committee and Board of Directors may be nominated or make nominations. Neither nominators nor nominees may participate in deliberations for these awards.
- Nominations are judged solely on the material submitted.
Nomination Directions
- Include the name, degrees, address, email, and phone number of the nominee.
- Include your complete name, address, email and phone number.
- Discuss the nominee’s significant contributions to the advancement of public health laboratory science or practice. Be as specific as possible, but do not exceed 500 words.
Past Winners
2009 Recipient
Stan Inhorn, MD
Emeritus Director
Wisconsin State Laboratroy of Hygiene
Stan Inhorn was chosen to receive the Gold Standard Award in recognition of his significant and ongoing contributions to improving the national laboratory system serving public health. Much of Dr. Inhorn’s career has been dedicated to the advancement of the technical aspects of laboratory science. Recently, his efforts have focused on the improvement of systems. He was involved in early efforts to differentiate services of public health laboratories, which eventually evolved into the eleven core functions. He was co-author of the core functions article published in MMWR. Dr. Inhorn served as the Chair of the Laboratory Systems & Standards Committee from 2004 to 2008. Under his direction, the committee developed the Laboratory System Improvement Program (L-SIP), which targets improvement of public health laboratory systems by assessing each state’s ability to meet the core functions. He is currently working on a comprehensive article on the status of public health laboratory systems.
2007 Recipients
John (Jack) M. DeBoy, DrPH
Director of Laboratories Administration
Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene
Jack DeBoy was chosen to receive the Gold Standard for Public Health Laboratory Excellence award in recognition of his significant contributions to laboratory science and practice. DeBoy has been an active and compassionate public health practitioner for nearly 40 years. Having authored over 80 articles, 20 publications in peer-reviewed journals and developed 42 laws, regulations and government reports, DeBoy’s covered topics from Monkeypox and SARS to BioWatch and CLIA. During this past year, DeBoy was part of APHL’s team in the National Public Health Leadership Institute where his team helped establish a pipeline for future public health laboratory scientist-managers and directors. DeBoy also served on the APHL task force that developed the Core Functions and Capabilities of State Public Health Laboratories white paper. His other activities within APHL include actively serving on the Policy Planning, Legislative, Workforce, Finance and Accounting committees or working groups.
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) Laboratory Services Division
LDEQ Environmental Laboratory
2006 Recipient
Charles Trimarchi, MS
Laboratory Chief, Laboratory of Zoonotic Diseases and Clinical Virology
Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health
Charles Trimarchi was chosen to receive the Gold Standard for Public Health Laboratory Excellence award in recognition of his significant contributions to laboratory science and practice. He oversees 11 service and research laboratories with more than 100 professional, scientific and support staff. Trimarchi is a key figure in the standardization of methods for rabies virus detection and rabies antibody testing, and his research has resulted in the development of several laboratory methods, including the “gold standard” monoclonal antibody for rabies detection. Trimarchi’s contributions are extensive and include more than 30 publications in peer-reviewed literature, more than 60 other published articles and invited papers and more than 150 conference presentations. He has sat on numerous committees and work groups at both the state and national level, including CDC’s Rabies Steering Committee for Control of Rabies in the US since 1995 and the APHL Emergency Preparedness and Response Committee. He has also served repeatedly as faculty for NLTN workshops on rabies.
2005 Recipients
James L. Pearson, DrPH, BCLD, MPH
Deputy Director for Laboratories, Department of General Services Director, Virginia Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services
James Pearson was chosen to receive the Gold Standard for Public Health Laboratory Excellence award in recognition of his significant contributions to laboratory science and practice. Pearson has diverse public health experience of over 28 years, including 5 years as state epidemiologist in North Dakota and 13 as the state public health laboratory director at the Virginia Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services (DCLS). He has served as an expert consultant for many programs, sat on numerous committees and is actively affiliated with many professional organizations, including APHL, where he acted as president in 1999 and is currently the APHL Terrorism Preparedness Liaison. Pearson played an integral role in the development of the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (NELAP), the national standard for accreditation of public and commercial environmental laboratories. Pearson is a strong and committed advocate for strengthening state public health laboratory preparedness and response for potential biological or chemical terrorism events or any other hazardous event threatening our nation’s communities.
Phillip T. Amuso, PhD
Assistant Bureau Chief and Laboratory Director,
Florida Department of Health, Bureau of Laboratories
As recipient of the Gold Standard for Public Health Laboratory Excellence, Phillip Amuso is recognized for his leadership and dedication to the advancement of public health laboratory science. He has served the state of Florida for nearly 30 years and has played a critical role in many substantial improvements in public health in the state. Highly respected by his staff and peers, Amuso has shown exemplary leadership skills as assistant bureau chief and laboratory director. Examples of his outstanding work include being the key architect in designing the public health laboratories’ response capability, resulting in significant upgrades in state health labs; implementing the Biowatch program in Florida; and establishing the USF Center for Biological Defense—a unique partnership between a state public health lab and a university. Amuso is at the forefront when it comes to leading his staff, working with the media and allaying public fears during critical periods such as the anthrax attacks of 2001 and the 2005 case of influenza virus proficiency test samples that were mistakenly mailed out.