— Gynene Sullivan, manager, Communications

Gynene Sullivan: In Dr. Sharfstein's keynote on Monday, he talked about the changing rules of public health action. How can public health laboratories, especially how different and how similar public health laboratories really are, and APHL for that matter, help our members adapt and continue to thrive with all of the challenges that are coming forward?

Sharon Massingale: So, I'll start. You asked what I will be talking about in my address this afternoon. We heard about the white paper on Monday in the laboratory's directors’ meeting, and they offered some challenges that we're going to have to think outside of the box to solve. But prior to that, I had thought about how we can improve the part of the strategic plan that talks about filling the gaps. How can we form coalitions better? We know we have our [Southeast Regional Consortia] SEC. And so, one of the things that come to my mind is something I think is very simple and I think I would like for us to do. We had this concept of laboratory improvement systems, and somebody brought it up today and I said, okay, this is continuously being brought to my mind. How can we utilize that and analyze processes within the region and come together for emergencies? You know, we think about it and make it work because we're resilient people. But what if we already had that done? And how can we do that? Why not within the realms of modifying that template and utilizing it in the regional consortia? So, I'm going to suggest and propose we do that and make our region the beta test so that we can be able to move forward to make us more cohesive within our regions. And I feel that we don't have to utilize the whole tool, but there are certain tenets of it that I think we can utilize to help make that a reality.

Scott Becker: I used to, years ago, shy away from the “R” word…the regionalization. I look at it very differently today, because it's really a mutual compact of assistance and support. I think as we've seen in this last year, perhaps there will be a reduction in the ability of the federal government to bring things together. The truth is, APHL does that, regions do that, neighboring states and localities do that. I think there's also a movement across the country in public health of consortia building. And I believe APHL was at the forefront years and years ago, because we've had our consortia for many years. I think we are looking at it with new eyes. And that's a really important thing right now. I've said this before: through chaos, comes opportunity. And I think we're getting to the point of being able to think a little bit more clearly and strategically and going back to Scott's point about our strategic map. That's been something that's a guiding post. It's a strategic map for two years to get us through whatever period we happen to be in. But I can also see a lot of action down the road. I may not have been able to say that a year ago, but things are getting a little bit clearer and certainly the regional consortia is I think going to be a highlight of the future.

Scott Shone: Sitting here last year in May, it's almost surreal to think the meeting was incredibly well timed to address where we were and what we felt at the moment. I think our members came out of that a little more energized. And I kind of feel like we're lucky that the 75th wasn't last year, because it would have been hard to celebrate in May 2025. We weren't in that place. And I think now we can celebrate, but we also have that opportunity to think about these shifted dynamics. You mentioned that the rules of the game have changed. I think the rules haven't only changed about laboratory science, but how we communicate and how we talk about who we are and explain. And I mean, it goes back again to telling our stories that how we used to say how we're successful is not how we should say it now or even who should say it. It might not be that I'm the best messenger for everything, but then it's my job to figure out who should say it. And I think that's been part of the other success across the different disciplines. But yeah, I mean, there are a lot of lessons learned. I think coming from Brian Castrucci's keynote last year, which was very well timed to Josh talking about this changing of the rules is this flow that we're in down this river of change.

Becker: And I think the commonality is that we have a voice and we need to use it because we know what we're doing, and we know who can support and what the needs are.

Shone: Well, in the prior strategic map, there was a box that said use the elevated voice of APHL. That was in the pandemic because APHL was a force as part of this response. We don't have that box in the current strategic map, but it's not because we don't have an elevated voice, as you just said. It's just elevated in different rooms. And that's where we have to figure out how to create doors between the rooms where our voice is elevated to a room where it might not be as loud but then let it echo through.