The Association of Public Health Laboratories invites its membership to nominate a member for the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. This award recognizes individuals who have established a history of distinguished service to APHL, made significant contributions to the advancement of public health laboratory science or practice, exhibited leadership in the field of public health, and/or positively influenced public health policy on a national or global level.
Nominations should be made from a broad field of candidates. This is not a retirement award, but a true Lifetime Achievement Award.
Formal recognition of the APHL Lifetime Achievement 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 Lifetime Achievement 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.
- Three or more members of APHL must nominate the individual confidentially.
- An individual may not be self-nominated.
- Members of the Membership and Recognition Committee and Board of Directors may nominate, second or be a candidate for the Lifetime Achievement Award. Neither nominators nor nominees may participate in deliberations for these awards.
- The Membership and Recognition Committee will review all nominations; its recommendation will be considered and decided upon by the Board of Directors.
- Nominations are judged solely on the material submitted.
Nomination Directions
- Include the complete name, address, email and phone number of the nominee.
- Include the complete name, address, email and phone number of the three APHL members supporting this nomination.
- CVs are welcomed by the committee, but not required.
- All four questions below must be addressed. Please provide a description of the nominee’s accomplishments that addresses the questions in a thorough manner. The Membership and Recognition Committee invites specific details on the work history of the nominee. The committee cannot consider any qualification or achievement that is not included in the nomination materials.
Directions for questions 1-3: These questions seek specific information. Bullet points are acceptable. There is no space limit.
1. Discuss the nominee’s history of service to APHL. In particular, address positions of leadership held within the association, such as terms on the Board of Directors or as a committee chair. Include any other known association history, such as participation on committees and workgroups, and any examples of the nominee representing APHL officially as a liaison to other organizations or at national meetings.
2. Discuss the nominee’s significant contribution(s) to the advancement of public health laboratory science or practice. Be as specific as possible by including teaching positions or academic appointments; awards or honors from professional or scientific organizations or institutions (provide name of award/honor and date given, if known); citations of scientific papers, book chapters, etc., in which the nominee was a principle author; or positions as editor or author of a scientific or public health periodical(s) or book(s).
3. Provide examples of the nominee’s leadership in the field of public health including, but not limited to, examples of positively influencing public health policy on a national or global level. (Government committees and workgroups, advocacy for public health laboratories and science, senior positions in health fields, other public health committee participation.)
Directions for question 4: Please respond in an essay-style format. Do not exceed 500 words.
4. In your evaluation, how did the nominee’s contributions support the advancement of public health laboratories?
Past Winners
2009 Recipient
Charles Sweet, DrPH
Emeritus Director
Texas Department of State Health Services, Laboratory Services Section
Dr. Charles Sweet is being recognized for a distinguished career as a laboratory leader and for his continued contributions to the profession spanning the more than fifteen years since his retirement. He is the former director of the Texas public health laboratory, serving in this capacity from 1973 to1993. During his tenure as lab director, Dr. Sweet demonstrated foresight and leadership in a time of great change and advances to the field. Dr. Sweet directed the development of methods to determine mercury levels in fish. This work led Lacava Bay to be closed to fishing due to its high mercury levels. This is one of the first examples of public health laboratory data being used in the new regulatory environment after passage of the federal clean water and safe drinking water legislation in the early 1970’s.
Dr. Sweet led the way in the expansion of newborn screening and built what is still today the largest screening program in the world. He advocated for the creation of the APHL’s Newborn Screening Committee and served as the first chair. In the 1980’s, Dr. Sweet’s immense foresight allowed him to establish a nuclear emergency response plan as well as an environmental monitoring program for nuclear power plants. These are just a few examples of how Dr. Sweet led the way in building best practices in public health laboratory science.
Over the years, Dr. Sweet has served APHL in numerous capacities, including as committee chair, Board member-at-large, president in 1984-1985, and as the association’s parliamentarian. Since his retirement in 1993, Dr. Sweet has continued to play an active role in the public health laboratory community by serving on the APHL Membership Committee, participating in the EID Fellowship selection process, and contributing to the Biannual Conference of Local Public Health Laboratory Directors of Texas.
2008 Recipients
Nancy Warren, PhD
Retired Laboratory Director
Pennsylvania Bureau of Laboratories
Warren has led a distinguished career within the state public health laboratory community for more than 30 years. She has served as a section chief in mycobacteria/mycology, a clinical and research professor at George Washington University and the Medical College of Virginia, a manager within the private sector and ultimately as a laboratory director. Warren was the assistant director for the Pennsylvania Bureau of Laboratories within the Pennsylvania Department of Health for approximately two years and the laboratory director from January 2005 until her retirement in November 2007.
In 2005 and 2006, Warren was part of the APHL scholar team in the National Public Health Leadership Institute (PHLI). She contributed her extensive experience, leadership and collaboration skills to help the team develop guidelines to prepare future generations of state public health laboratory scientist-managers and directors. For their work, the team was honored with PHLI’s “Martha Katz’ national award.
Warren has an established history of service to APHL and has worked in several different capacities, including chair of the APHL TB Steering Committee, technical advisor to the ASTPHLD/CDC bi-national TB training initiatives and member of the APHL Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Workforce Development Initiative Work Group. Warren’s leadership in the field of public health is well documented by her numerous appointments to editorial review boards, technical committees and workgroups in both professional societies and federal agencies. Through this work, she has provided technical guidance on laboratory practice and science, advocated for public health laboratories and influenced policy both nationally and internationally.
Harry Hannon, PhD
Branch Chief
CDC Newborn Screening Branch
Hannon has made many significant and lasting contributions in the advancement of public health laboratory science, particularly in improving and standardizing newborn screening methods. Chief among his accomplishments is the creation of the Newborn Screening Quality Assurance Program (NSQAP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, celebrating its 30th anniversary in July 2008. Under his direction, this program has become an integral part of the newborn screening systems in the United States and around the world. The NSQAP serves as a center of expertise for all of the state public health laboratories, and more than 400 laboratories in the United States and 71other countries, by providing proficiency testing, training, reference materials and consultation services for the testing of newborns for preventable diseases.
Since the 1970s, Hannon has served on more than 40 scientific committees, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Academy of Sciences. His committee work with the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute has been instrumental in setting standards and guidelines for national health policies for laboratory procedures. He has served as the CDC liaison to the APHL Newborn Screening & Genetics in Public Health Committee since 1991 and is one of the key founders of what has become the APHL-sponsored Newborn Screening and Genetic Testing Symposium.
Hannon has been awarded 35 awards nationally and internationally, including the Robert Guthrie Award presented by the International Society for Neonatal Screening and the PHS Superior Service Award given by the US Department of Health and Human Services. His publications number well over 200, and he has contributed 14 book chapters, 150 abstracts and more than 100 presentations covering a variety of topics in public health.
For more than 30 years, Hannon has led the way in developing and improving newborn screening methods, preventing death and disability for millions of children.
2004 George Anderson, DVM, MPH
2003 E. Charles Hartwig, ScD
2002 J. Mehsen Joseph, PhD
2000 Arthur F. DiSalvo, MD
1999 Stanley L. Inhorn, MD
1998 William J. Hausler, PhD
1998 Carl H. Blank, DrPH