APHL Board of Directors

Scott Shone, PhD, HCLD(ABB), is the director of the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health. He received his bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, his doctorate in molecular microbiology and immunology from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and is a board-certified high-complexity clinical laboratory director from the American Association of Bioanalysts. Shone spent 12 years at the New Jersey Department of Health as an Emerging Infectious Diseases Post-doctoral Research Fellow from APHL, as a research scientist in the Biothreat Response Unit, and, ultimately, as the director of the newborn screening laboratory.

During his tenure, the newborn screening program expanded its screening panel, upgraded the laboratory’s information management system, installed and validated multiple pieces of new equipment, expanded molecular testing, increased efficiency and reduced costs through implementation of LEAN processes, and maintained essential services during multiple states of emergency. During this time, Shone also served as the inaugural chair of the Steering Committee for APHL’s Newborn Screening Technical Assistance and Evaluation Program (NewSTEPs), was a member of the APHL Newborn Screening and Genetics in Public Health Committee and received the APHL Emerging Leader Award. More recently, as a senior research public health analyst at RTI International, he directed clinical laboratory services for Early Check, a state-wide voluntary expanded newborn screening program.

In his current role with the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health, Shone leads a team of over 230 administrative and technical staff for the successful delivery of clinical and environmental laboratory services in the state. In addition to his state service, Shone is a member of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute Expert Panel on Newborn Screening, a member of the editorial board for the International Journal of Neonatal Screening and an appointed member of the federal Secretary of Health and Human Services’ Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children.

Sharon Massingale, PhD, HCLD/CC(ABB), is the director of the Alabama Department of Public Health Public Health Laboratory, where she has served since 2009. She received her bachelor’s in zoology/chemistry from Alabama A&M University, her master’s in biology from Tuskegee University and her PhD in microbiology from Auburn University.

Prior to her current appointment, Massingale served for six months as the laboratory assistant director. Before her administrative role, Massingale’s technical roles included molecular agnostic specialist, laboratory senior microbiologist and microbiologist. Her initial responsibilities were establishing the biological LRN and PulseNet programs and managing the associated grants. During this time, she traveled throughout the state soliciting participation from hospital laboratories to agree to serve as sentinel for both the bioterrorism and influenza testing programs. She helped initiate the Annual Alabama Sentinel Laboratory Conference in 2005, which was held every year until the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020. She has led the laboratory through SARS, MERS, influenza pandemic, Ebola and COVID-19. Under her leadership, the laboratory is seeking ISO 17025 accreditation.

Massingale is an active member of APHL where she has served on the Laboratory System and Standards and the Workforce Development Committees. She also served on several workgroups associated with these committees. In 2009, Massingale was selected to APHL’s Emerging Leaders Cohort 2. She has served on APHL’s Nominating, Awards and Annual Meeting Planning Committees. She currently serves as board liaison to the Public Health Preparedness and Response and the Workforce Development Committees. 

Massingale is board-certified as a high-complexity clinical laboratory director from the American Association of Bioanalysts, with a specialty in microbiology and also holds a second certification as a Clinical Consultant. She is the Southern Regional Representative for the Environmental Biology and Public Health Section. Massingale was appointed to the Alabama State University Biological Science Advisory Board in 2012, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Clinical Laboratory Science Advisory Board in 2016 and the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee for the 2016–2020 session.

Megan Crumpler, PhD, HCLD(ABB), received her bachelor’s degree in microbiology and cell science from the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. She obtained her PhD in microbiology and immunology from the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, VA where she studied immune evasion techniques of Cytomegalovirus in guinea pigs. She successfully completed the doctoral program in 2008 and went on to do a one-year post-doctoral fellowship at VCU in the Infectious Disease Division where she studied gut inflammatory markers released in HIV-infected patients.

In 2009, she moved to California and assumed a supervising public health microbiologist position at the Riverside County Public Health Laboratory. In May 2014, following completion of her laboratory director training and board certification by the American Board of Bioanalysis as a high-complexity clinical laboratory director, she was promoted to laboratory director.

In April 2017, Crumpler accepted the laboratory director position at the Orange County Public Health Laboratory. She is an active member of CAPHLD and is currently serving her second two-year term as CAPHLD’s Secretary-Treasurer. She is co-chair of CAPHLD’s Program Planning Committee, a member of the PHL Regulations Subcommittee and CAPHLD’s representative to the California Department of Public Health’s Reportable Diseases Subcommittee. She has also served as president of CAPHLD, co-chair of the Public Health Microbiologist Training Committee and as a member of the LabAspire Committee. Crumpler has served on APHL’s Nominations Committee, Program Planning Committee and as chair of the STD Subcommittee. She currently serves as board liaison to the Infectious Disease Committee. She has previously served as board liaison to the Environmental Health and Laboratory Systems and Standards Committees.

Godfred Masinde, PhD, MBA, HCLD(ABB), is the public health laboratory director for the city and county of San Francisco Public Health Laboratory. He is board-certified by the American Board of Bioanalysis and holds a bachelor’s in zoology and a master’s in medical parasitology/immunology from the University of Nairobi-Kenya, a doctorate in medical/molecular parasitology from Tulane University, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and an MBA from Baker College. He currently serves on APHL’s Finance and Global Health committees, which has allowed him to understand the critical services APHL provides both locally and internationally in addition to APHL’s finances. He has also served as the president of the California Association of Public Health Laboratory Directors, which brings together all 29 local public health laboratories in California to speak with one voice.

His professional career includes positions such as supervising public health microbiologist at the Napa-Solano-Yolo-Marin County Public Health Laboratory, public health microbiologist (supervising) and bioterrorism coordinator at the San Bernardino County Public Health Laboratory, technical support specialist at Thermo Fisher, associate director at Long Beach Genetics, production manager at Eurogentec Inc., North America and assistant research professor and senior scientist at Veterans Hospital in Loma Linda. He has authored and co-authored publications in peer-reviewed journals. Currently, he is a member of the Sexually Transmitted Infections Abbott Advisory board. He also holds the following certifications: Public Health Microbiologist (State of California), High Complexity Laboratory Director (ABB), Molecular Biologist (ASCP), Microbiologist (ASCP), Clinical Microbiology Specialist (State of CA).

Kara Levinson, PhD, MPH, D(ABMM), is the director of the Tennessee Public Health Laboratory and has nearly 20 years of public health, environmental health and clinical laboratory experience. She received her BS in microbiology from Northern Arizona University, and her MPH in hospital and molecular epidemiology from the University of Michigan. She served as an APHL Emerging Infectious Diseases Fellow at the Iowa Public Health Laboratory and completed her PhD in immunology and infectious disease at the New York State Department of Health, Wadsworth Center. 

After obtaining her PhD, Levinson completed a CPEP fellowship in clinical microbiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She then joined the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a Laboratory Leadership Service Fellow at the New Hampshire Public Health Laboratory. She came to the Tennessee Public Health Laboratory in 2020 as deputy director and became laboratory director in 2022, a role she continues to serve today. As director, Levinson leads a team of 200 staff across two laboratories, providing clinical, newborn screening and environmental testing services statewide. 

In addition to her federal, state and APHL service, Levinson served two terms on the Board of Directors for the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), has held positions on multiple ABMM and CPEP subcommittees, and is currently serving on the nominations and appointments committee. She has co-authored CLSI documents on Gram stains (M63) and point-of-care testing (POCT18) and has been Diplomate of the American Board of Medical Microbiology since 2018.

Michael Pentella, PhD, MS, D(ABMM), SM(ASCP), CIC, received his bachelor’s in microbiology from Ohio State University, a master’s from Thomas Jefferson University and his PhD from the University of South Florida. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Medical Microbiology. He has over 40 years of public health and clinical laboratory experience at national, state and local levels. He has held faculty positions at Thomas Jefferson University, the University of Central Florida, the University of South Florida and the University of Iowa. His primary interests are in biosafety, biodefense, foodborne pathogens and emerging infectious diseases. He has published over 50 articles and 15 book chapters.

Pentella serves as board liaison to APHL’s Biosafety and Biosecurity and Public Health Preparedness and Response Committees.

Anthony Tran, DrPH, PhD, MPH, D(ABMM), MT(ASCP), is the director of the California Public Health Laboratories and heads the Center for Laboratory Sciences, an executive-staff-level focus for laboratory science policy issues and coordination, since December 2022. Before this, Tran served as director of the FDA’s San Francisco Laboratory, overseeing ISO 17025-accredited microbiological and chemical analyses of human and animal food products to help protect the nation’s food supply. He is a board-certified microbiologist and clinical laboratory scientist with over 20 years of public health and clinical laboratory experience at national, federal, state and local levels.

Tran started his public health career at APHL in 2003. More recently, he served as the director of policy and operations at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Bureau of the Public Health Laboratory. Tran provided guidance and direction to all areas of the laboratory and was involved in the city’s response to Ebola, New York City’s largest Legionnaires’ disease outbreak and Zika. He also served as director of the District of Columbia’s Public Health Laboratory for over four years, where he led the city’s testing efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was a member of the APHL Board of Directors and their COVID-19 Task Force. He has expert knowledge in bacteriology, serology, molecular biology, infectious disease diagnostics and laboratory policy development, particularly in the areas of influenza, HIV, STDs, tuberculosis, Zika and biothreat agents.

Tran received his bachelor’s in medical technology from the University of Maryland at Baltimore, School of Medicine in 1998, his MPH from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2001, and his DrPH from the University of California, Berkeley in 2013. He is an ASCP board-certified medical technologist and completed his medical and public health microbiology fellowship from UNC Health Care in 2015 and became a Diplomate of the American Board of Medical Microbiology in 2015.

Luke Chandler Short, PhD, HCLD(ABB), serves as director of the Dallas County Public Health Laboratory, a CLIA-accredited facility supporting Dallas County and surrounding jurisdictions. With over 20 years of experience across public health, forensic science and clinical chemistry, Short has led laboratory programs through periods of rapid growth, emergency response and regulatory transformation.

Prior to his current role, he served as interim director and chief of chemistry at the Department of Forensic Sciences in Washington, DC, where he founded the city’s Forensic Chemistry Unit and led its accreditation efforts under ISO 17025. There, he became a subject matter expert in forensic and regulatory standards, while managing complex, multidisciplinary operations in toxicology and chemical threat response. His collaboration with law enforcement and public safety officials across DC, federal agencies and regional jurisdictions provided him with a deep understanding of interagency coordination and the operational needs of high-stakes environments.

Short also led the District’s syringe-residue biosurveillance initiative and chaired its Opioid Fatality Review Board—projects that integrated laboratory science with policy and community impact. In Dallas, he continues to build laboratory capacity in toxicology, molecular testing and data integration, including implementation of AI-assisted workflows and health information systems.

A Fulbright Scholar and Phi Beta Kappa inductee, Short earned his PhD in chemistry and dual bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and biology from the University of California, Irvine. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and remains committed to strengthening the national laboratory system through innovation, workforce development and strategic alignment with emerging public health priorities.

For APHL, Short serves as board liaison to the Knowledge Management and Informatics Committees.

After earning a bachelor’s in microbiology at the University of Kentucky and a PhD in immunology and microbiology at the University of Colorado, Leslie Wolf, PhD, HCLD(ABB), completed a basic research post-doctoral fellowship at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. That, in turn, is where she learned about the APHL/CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases Post-doctoral Fellowship at the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health. She fell in love with public health laboratory work during this two-year fellowship, and subsequently served as public health scientist, assistant public health laboratory director and finally public health laboratory director. She continues to be thankful for her excellent training in public health in North Carolina.

Wolf's training and work experience in North Carolina prepared her to serve as contract CLIA laboratory director for a small private laboratory (2012–2016) and for the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness since July 2013. In December 2016, she also became laboratory director and clinical assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine at the University of Louisville, splitting time between the two laboratories. In April 2019, she began serving as an adjunct instructor for the University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences, teaching an undergraduate microbiology course of public health majors.

Pamela J. Higgins, PhD, is the director of the Bureau of Laboratories for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. She has over 30 years of professional experience in biochemistry, molecular biology and various analytical chemical fields (radiochemistry, organics and flow injection analysis). Higgins has been involved with environmental regulatory and emergency response testing activities and management for over 11 years and is the current APHL liaison to the Integrated Consortium of Laboratory Networks radiochemistry workgroup and the National Alliance for Recovery Residences.  She contributes her experience and scientific knowledge to support initiatives of two Pennsylvania Commonwealth interagency task forces focused on PFAS and harmful algal blooms and participates in the Data Integrity Workgroup for the Chesapeake Bay Program. With adjunct faculty appointments at Harrisburg University for Science and Technology and Lebanon Valley College, Higgins strives to encourage her undergraduate students to work in governmental laboratories by incorporating case studies related to environmental agency activities into her courses. She is a strong advocate for analytical workforce development and safety, supporting laboratory funding and resources and working with additional partners to improve public health through quality laboratory science and operations.

Higgins is board liaison to APHL’s Environmental Laboratory Sciences and Human and Animal Food Committees.

Scott Becker has served as the chief executive officer for APHL since 1997, where he leads over 250 staff who are engaged in all aspects of supporting public health laboratories, including public health preparedness and response, informatics, scientific affairs, training and policy.

Becker is a veteran of public health events, including leading APHL’s emergency response to COVID-19, where he juggled situation updates, spearheaded the development of protocols and resources and advocated for emergency funding and policy changes. He regularly convened laboratory, federal and corporate partners to coordinate activities and resolve logistical issues. He is also a prominent spokesperson in the nation’s news media.

Prior to joining APHL, Becker served as deputy executive director for the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH). During a sabbatical from ASPH, he directed a WHO project to integrate HIV/AIDS into health profession curricula. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business and non-profit management, respectively, from the University of Maryland.

The chief executive officer serves as ex-officio on the APHL Board of Directors, a non-voting member of the Executive Committee.