feature
SHL clinical lab supervisor Ryan Jepson
leads former Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds on a 2014
tour, with SHL Director Christopher Atchison
(second from left) and Drew Fayram, SHL CALS
coordinator and former EID Fellow (now SHL
biosafety officer). Photo courtesy of the State
Hygenic Laboratory at the University of Iowa
Sharing the Value of Public Health Laboratories
by Nancy Maddox, MPH, writer
When Christopher Atchison, MPA, became director of Iowa’s
University Hygienic Laboratory a decade ago, one of the first things
he did was change its name to the State Hygienic Laboratory
(SHL) at the University of Iowa: “We’re a state agency. I want the
legislature to think about us as a state agency.”
That simple act of advocacy paid off.
When the Iowa legislature drafted, and
passed, the Iowa Medical Cannabidiol
Act earlier this year, it listed only
one laboratory by name as an option
for mandatory “spot check testing”
of cannabidiol products produced in
state: the SHL. For a facility that “lives
or dies on volume,” that is a success.
Said Atchison (who retired June
30), “Restoring that historic name
gives us more recognition as a state
laboratory [as distinct from any of the
other labs located on any of Iowa’s
three state university campuses].”
He said, “What that [bill] tells me is
that we have achieved the purpose of
being seen as a resource in the area
of science. That’s more significant
than people might realize.”
Indeed, at a time when government
budgets are under threat, visibility can be
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a lifeline. Said Chris Whelen, PhD, head
of Hawaii’s Department of Health State
Laboratories, “As laboratory scientists,
you’re not in the spotlight; you’re the
supporting cast. And lab folks kind of
like it like that. But anonymity is a bit of
a liability, especially when you’re trying
to advocate for resources. If folks don’t
know you exist, they don’t know why
they’re spending money on you. And they
certainly don’t want to give you more.”
The need for a laboratory voice in
budgetary discussions has become more
urgent in the past year. According to a
recent Washington Post report, “More states
are facing financial trouble than at any
time since the economy began to emerge
from the Great Recession...and will grow
more dire as the Trump administration
and GOP leaders on Capitol Hill try to
cut spending and rely on states to pick
up a greater share of expensive services
such as education and health care.”
Summer 2017 LAB MATTERS
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