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Laessig Earns Trifecta of Awards

Ronald Laessig, Ph.D

MADISON , Wis. - A lifetime of achievement for hard work and dedication continues to earn accolades here at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene from the state and national level.

The Association of Public Health Laboratories and the March of Dimes Wisconsin Chapter have honored WSLH Director Dr. Ronald Laessig for his continuing public health and environmental service with three recent awards.

Laessig was selected as the first-ever recipient of the APHL's Gold Standard for Public Health Laboratory Excellence Award, in addition to a second award honoring his time serving as the chairperson of the APHL's Environmental Health Committee.

The Gold Standard Award is "given to an APHL member who makes or has made significant contributions to the advancement of public health laboratory science and/or practice." Laessig received both awards at the 2004 APHL Annual Meeting titled "Communication, Cooperation, Coordination: Building Bridges in Public Health," held in St. Paul, Minn., on Sept. 29.

Closer to home, the March of Dimes has also chosen Laessig as the first annual honoree for the 2004 March of Dimes Prevention Award. The Prevention Award "recognizes the untiring efforts of an individual or group to fulfill the mission o f the March of Dimes to prevent prematurity, birth defects and infant mortality and to increase the health of babies overall through prevention and health promotion strategies." He received the award for his leadership in newborn screening in Wisconsin.

"I am honored to receive these awards from both the APHL and the March of Dimes on behalf of the great team at the State Lab," Laessig said. "As a long-time member of the APHL, I have seen public health laboratories make great strides in increasing our abilities to improve and protect the health of the public and environment.

"Additionally, the work of the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene's Newborn Screening Program is very near to my heart and I am thankful that the March of Dimes has recognized us for our continuing efforts to help babies and their families."

Laessig became WSLH director in 1980 after 10 years as assistant director. He earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry from UW-Stevens Point and his doctorate from UW-Madison. He completed post-doctoral work at Princeton University and CDC. A UW Medical School professor of population health sciences, he is an active researcher and speaker on laboratory aspects of public and environmental health.

Through his membership in the APHL, Laessig has been strongly influential in the Association's work on chemical terrorism and also advocating for the organization of the 2003 National Chemical Terrorism Consensus Conference. During his tenure as chairperson, the APHL Environmental Health Committee considered many issues including state laboratory accreditation, biomonitoring , chemical terrorism preparedness, environmental health tracking and sample triage. Laessig is committed to the advancement of public health through his longstanding contributions to both science and practice.

During Laessig's 25 years directing the WSLH, the development of the Newborn Screening program has been both one of the most challenging and the most rewarding. He clearly saw the value of screening babies for congenital disorders through a well-coordinated and managed centralized screening program and worked to establish a single laboratory where quality control and assurance functions could be maximized and follow-up guaranteed.

Newborn screening programs are responsible for the pre-symptomatic detection and treatment of babies born with congenital disorders in order to prevent severe medical complications, such as mental retardation, neurological damage and even death. Since 1978, over 1,400 Wisconsin children have been identified with a congenital disorder and have received oftentimes inexpensive treatments that have allowed them to lead normal, productive lives.

While all states have regulations addressing this testing, Laessig led the WSLH team that created a screening program for newborns that was both technologically and administratively advanced, making Wisconsin a prototype for other programs and earning national respect. Under his direction, Wisconsin has expanded the number of "official" disorders screened for every baby born in the state from four in 1978 to 26 in 2003, making it one of the most comprehensive in the nation. Thousands of babies and their families have benefited from early detection and an improved quality of life here in our state.

Written By: Jessica D. Burda, WSLH Communications Specialist

Date: October 5, 2004

Related Stories:

•  Wisconsin Newborns Screened for 48 Genetic Disorders
•  Putting All U.S. Babies Under One Screening System
    (Wisconsin State Journal)

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