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From environmental projects characterizing and quantitating contaminants in our water, food and even inside us, to infectious disease projects addressing antimicrobial resistance, “one of the world’s most urgent public health problems”, and studying factors that contribute to emerging infections, these seed grant-supported projects span a wide range of fields.

APHL Honors 2024 Newborn Screening Award Winners 

Wadsworth Center and SUNY Global Health Institute collaborate to create the New York State Global Health Interface Platform. The partnership is to provide training for future public health and biomedical research professionals and strengthen international grant opportunities. Read the New York State Department of Health Press Release

The study is published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The Department issues a joint Health Advisory to health care providers related to increased Oropouche virus activity and associated risk to travelers.

Across the globe, harmful algal blooms caused by cyanobacteria, also known as CyanoHABs, are increasing in frequency, intensity and duration, impacting drinking and recreational waters. In New York State (NYS), they have been reported in >200 lakes, and are responsible for increasing beach closures over the past decade, prompting the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) to expand lake monitoring programs to include CyanoHAB monitoring.

All newborns in New York State are screened for 52 disorders including all 37 on the Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP).  Because of the immense impact newborn screening has on public health, a committee of professionals continually evaluates conditions for addition to the RUSP. Pilot studies such as ScreenPlus can help determine if a new test for a disorder provides results that are beneficial to the health of the newborn and, therefore, the disorder should be added to the panel.

Before COVID most of us probably never thought about how the organisms that cause disease inherit their genetic material and how that impacts their ability to be “successful” pathogens.  Drs. Todd Gray and Keith Derbyshire at the Wadsworth Center have been thinking about this for a long time. 

Over 10 people per hour, nearly 300 per day, every day lose their lives to drugs nationwide. 

Some of the work of the cores, such as media preparation, is based on techniques that go back over a hundred years, even to the beginnings of what became the Wadsworth Center. Other Wadsworth Center cores perform high-quality antigen production, sophisticated image analysis and manipulation, and sequencing and bioinformatic analysis that may be completed in hours to days rather than weeks or months, often providing comprehensive assessment of a full bacterial genome.

Established by NIH in 2019, the goal of HHEAR is to promote the characterization of the totality of human environmental exposures called the "exposome". The exposome includes chemical, physical, and biological stressors as well as lifestyle and social environments that affect a person.

Read about Dr. Janet Lynch's journey in the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) article, "Laboratory Call Proves Strong for One Fellow."

Wadsworth Center scientists Dr. Paul Masters and Dr. Kirsten St. George recently joined Commissioner McDonald and Acting Executive Deputy Commissioner Morne on the New York Public Health Now podcast. The podcast discusses timely topics with front line public health specialists.

At this year’s annual meeting of the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), two Wadsworth Center scientists were honored.   Elizabeth Nazarian, MT (ASCP) received the Silver Award for her contributions including her work to establish the Northeast Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory at Wadsworth Center, her role in developing over 50 laboratory developed tests and authoring 40 papers.

Rana Rahmat, a member of the Public Health Preparedness and Response Team from the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), expected her visit to Wadsworth Center to help her directly observe, better understand, and fully experience the important work happening across all our laboratories.

Department Celebrates the Many Contributions of the Wadsworth Center

Lyme disease presents an ever-increasing burden to the public and the public health system, with an estimated 476,000 cases per year nationwide (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). In addition, many patients continue to suffer pain, fatigue, and brain fog long after being treated for their initial infection.

Read the New York State Department of Health Press Release.

Read the New York State Department of Health Press Release

Wadsworth Center scientists Dr. Kimberlee Musser, Dr. Marie Claire Rowlinson, and Tanya Halse were among the featured highlights from the National Conference on Laboratory Aspects of Tuberculosis hosted by the Association of Public Health Laboratories in the latest edition of its quarterly magazine, Lab Matters.

Wadsworth Center’s Tanya Halse was the 2022 recipient of the Ed Desmond Award from the National Tuberculosis Controllers Association (NTCA).  This award honors exemplary service, dedication, or leadership to a tuberculosis (TB) laboratory professional and it’s easy to see why Tanya was nominated by Dr. Margaret Oxtoby and colleagues in the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Bureau of TB Control.