Public Health Preparedness and Response Committee

The PHPR Committee serves as technical experts to advise the Board and the association on all-hazards laboratory preparedness for, and response to, public health emergencies, natural disasters and emerging threats as they relate to issues affecting the membership. Key activities for the committee include:

1. Promoting maintenance of laboratory capability and capacity to respond to all-hazard threats.
2. Coordinating across the organization during response to public health emergencies.
3. Identifying future risks and developing proactive strategies to strengthen the public health laboratory system.
4. Guiding evaluations of new and emerging technologies.
5. Establishing and maintaining relationships and outreach efforts with key partners. 

• Provide leadership and technical expertise to enhance laboratory practice, preparedness and response through rapid detection and identification of emerging threats. 
• Refine and develop public health preparedness policy documents, funding guidance and performance measures. 
• Strengthen public-private partnerships for threat detection and rapid response. 
• Promote a consistent, coordinated lab systems approach in federal responses. 

• Developing a laboratory-specific surge capacity plan template, incorporating elements outlined in the PHEP Cooperative Agreement.  
• Updating and promoting the APHL position statement, “Field Screening Kits and Devices Must Work,” to address the evolving threat and detection landscape.
• Collaborating with the Clinical Laboratory Partnerships and Outreach (CLPOS) Subcommittee to update the APHL Biothreat Identification Bench Cards and Poster to incorporate guidance on sample receiving, increase awareness of emerging and unknown threats. 
• Providing input and guidance on the development, standardization, and implementation of medium or high throughput methods (e.g., extraction, analysis, liquid handling, sequencing) for biothreat agents.
• Collaborating with the LRN Operational Workgroup to develop an LRN resource document outlining training priorities and guiding laboratories on how to access appropriate resources to maintain competency.

• Surge Capacity Tabletop Exercise Template and Guidance Tool 
• Public Health Laboratory Readiness Checklist for Major Events
• Laboratory Preparedness Exercises A Toolkit for Public Health and Clinical Diagnostic Laboratories