One of the first fellows assigned to a public health laboratory in a CDC pilot program and an Iowa native studying an advanced method of organism identification joined the Hygienic Laboratory this fall.

Rachel Greenberg

Rachel Greenberg of Scarsdale, N.Y., and Drew Fayram from Anamosa, Iowa, were matched with the Hygienic Laboratory through separate fellowship programs.

Greenberg is a Public Health Associate Program (PHAP) fellow, funded by the CDC to work on Hygienic Laboratory management projects during her two-year assignment. PHAP gives students who have earned a bachelor's degree an opportunity to gain practical public health experience. Previously, PHAP fellows were only assigned to a state, tribal, local or territorial public health agency. This year, the CDC is piloting a program to place PHAP fellows in a state public health laboratory. Greenberg is one of two fellows in this pilot.

"I am currently rotating through different sections of the lab to get an overview of all the different services provided by the State Hygienic Laboratory," Greenberg said. "I have found that all these things - healthcare, research, education and community service - fall into the mission statement of the Hygienic Lab, making it the ideal place for me to begin my career in public health." Greenberg has a bachelor's degree in environmental chemistry from the State University of New York at Binghamton. She will be working on administrative and management projects involving all areas of the Hygienic Lab.

Drew Fayram

Drew Fayram was selected as an Emerging Infectious Disease (EID) fellow after earning a bachelor's degree in biology from Wartburg College and a master's in microbiology from the University of Iowa. The EID fellowship program is funded by CDC and the Association of Public Health Laboratories. It matches college graduates in science at various levels (bachelor's, master's, Ph.D., M.D.) with state public health laboratories and the CDC to build the public health laboratory workforce.

More than 20 fellows have been assigned to the Hygienic Lab since the EID program's inception in 1995.

Fayram is working with the Hygienic Lab's Disease Control Division and the Emergency Preparedness department. A primary focus of his fellowship is to validate the use of a testing technique known as matrix assisted laser desorption ionization - time of flight (MALDI-TOF) for identification of organisms including mycobacteria other than tuberculosis.

"MALDI-TOF is an emerging technology that has the potential to transform testing in the diagnostic microbiology laboratory by using protein analysis for bacterial identification," said Ryan Jepson, clinical laboratory technical specialist and one of Fayram's mentors for the fellowship. Fayram chose the Hygienic Lab as his host from a number of high quality labs on both the state and national level.

"As an Iowa native, I have a vested interest in the health, safety and general well-being of Iowans," he said. "Additionally, the reputation of the State Hygienic Laboratory is very strong among all of the labs and scientists I spoke with during the interview and selection processes."