By Allison Cook, Public Information Officer, Washington State Department of Health and Romesh Gautom, Ph.D., Public Health Laboratories, Washington State Department of Health
At left: Public Health Laboratories Director Dr. Romesh Gautom shows Dr. Frieden through the Microbiology Section of the lab. Dr. Brandon Leader, right, looks on.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Tom Frieden recently made his first visit to a public health laboratory during a stop to our state. It was a great honor. While the CDC is one of our most important partners, it doesn’t happen too often that the director is able to make a stop in Washington. We were very excited to host him.
As it was Dr. Frieden’s first visit to a state lab since becoming CDC director a little more than a year ago, we were happy to give him a brief tour. He had a lot of questions, especially around our food safety, tuberculosis, and shellfish testing work. We showed him areas where we conduct molecular testing including influenza testing, as well as testing for other communicable diseases.
Dr. Frieden’s visit to our state Public Health Laboratories was brief, but we were pleased with the opportunity to highlight some of the important work we do to protect the people of Washington.
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The opinions expressed here represent those of the author and not APHL.
