Association of Public Health Laboratories

The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) is a membership organization in the United States representing the laboratories that protect the health and safety of the public. In collaboration with members, APHL advances laboratory systems and practices, and promotes policies that support healthy communities. APHL serves as a liaison between laboratories and federal and international agencies, and ensures that the network of laboratories has current and consistent scientific information in order to be ready for outbreaks and other public health emergencies. Membership consists of local, territorial, county and state public health laboratories; environmental, agricultural and veterinary laboratories; and corporations and individuals with an interest in public health and laboratory science. APHL is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization with a history of over fifty years.

To promote the role of public health laboratories in shaping national and global health objectives, and to promote policies, programs and technologies that assure continuous improvement in the quality of laboratory practice and health outcomes.

A healthier world through quality laboratory practice.

Public health laboratories operate as a first line of defense to protect the public against diseases and other health hazards, ranging from testing of water, food, dairy and environmental products to investigation of newly emerging infectious diseases. Working in collaboration with other arms of the nation’s public health system, public health laboratories provide clinical diagnostic testing, disease surveillance, newborn screening, environmental and radiological testing, emergency response support, outbreak detection, applied research, laboratory training and other essential services to the communities they serve. Public health laboratory scientists are highly educated specialists with knowledge of one or more scientific disciplines, advanced skills in laboratory practice and the ability to apply this expertise to the detection and solution of complex problems affecting human health.

Every US state and territory, and the District of Columbia, has a central governmental public health laboratory that performs testing and other laboratory services on behalf of the entire jurisdiction. In addition, some states have local public health laboratories ranging in size from large metropolitan laboratories with over a hundred scientists to small rural laboratories with one or two staff that support local public health. Examples of testing performed by public health laboratories include testing drinking and recreational water, food safety testing, testing for lead exposure in children, screening newborns for genetic and metabolic disorders, rabies testing and testing for sexually transmitted diseases.

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