Mei Baker, MD, associate professor of pediatrics and co-director of the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene Newborn Screening Laboratory, received the Harry Hannon Laboratory Improvement Award in Newborn Screening from the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL).
She received the award at AHPL’s Newborn Screening and Genetic Testing Symposium, held October 27-30, 2014, in Anaheim, California. It honors a person working in newborn screening worldwide who contributions have had a direct effect in improving the quality of laboratory results for the newborn screening system.
Dr. Baker’s lab was one of the first to develop and pilot Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) newborn screening. Recently, Dr. Baker also began a quality improvement effort to reduce false positives associated with cystic fibrosis screening using next-generation sequencing technology. Her work has profoundly impacted and improved the current practice of newborn screening locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
To learn more, read the article on the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene’s website.