The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) has been awarded a five-year cooperative agreement of up to $4.1 million by the Genetics Services Branch of the U.S. Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to develop and manage the Newborn Screening Technical Assistance and Evaluation Program (NewSTEPs). NewSTEPs will provide quality improvement initiatives for newborn screening systems, a new data repository, and technical and educational resources to state newborn screening programs and stakeholders. For more information, go to: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/APHL-Awarded-Multi-Million-Dollar-Cooperative-Agreement-Newborn-Screening-Technical-1663350.htm

The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) is in the midst of creating a framework for current procedural terminology coding for next-generation sequencing-based assays, which it plans to complete by the end of June. Following the completion of the proposal, the committee will release it for feedback from stakeholders and then submit a formal proposal to the American Medical Association’s CPT Editorial Panel.

For more information, please visit: http://www.genomeweb.com//node/1081576?hq_e=el&hq_m=1283917&hq_l=4&hq_v=2282f8562d

Opportunities to share results of well-designed quality improvement projects, regardless of their success have been limited. This has been a critical missed opportunity for spreading innovation. Recognizing this need, the Journal of Pediatrics is introducing a new section “Quality Reports” under the direction of assistant editor Alex Kemper, MD; this section will feature reports of the implementation and outcomes of quality improvement projects. It is believed that the publishing of these reports will both increase scholarly productivity around quality improvement for children’s health and improve the rigor brought to the conduct of quality improvement projects. For additional information please visit http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/extract/127/1/187

PerkinElmer Genetics, Inc was recently awarded a maximum $9,700,000 performance based contract by the US Department of Defense to provide newborn screening services and supplies for the members of the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. The Department of Defense selected PerkinElmer Genetics from a total of 3 bidders with the contract length lasting until May 6, 2012. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa. (SPM2DE-11-D-7229). For additional information please visit http://www.defense.gov//contracts/contract.aspx?contractid=4458 

A new report entitled Public Health in an Era of Genome-based and Personalized Medicine was recently released by an international, multidisciplinary expert group. The report focuses on key issues for the future of global public health given the rapid developments in genomic medicine and technologies. The expert group was convened in the United Kingdom in May 2010, by the PHG Foundation, the Center for Bioethics, the Centre of Genomics and Policy, and the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.

To read the report and press release, go to: http://www.phgfoundation.org/reports/6617/ To read the abstract of a compendium article published in Genetics in Medicine, go to: http://journals.lww.com/geneticsinmedicine/Abstract/publishahead/Extending_the_reach_of_public_health_genomics_.99709.aspx

The NIH’s Office of Rare Diseases Research and The Wadsworth Center of the New York State Department of Health announce a national conference titled:

Genetic Diseases of Children…Advancing Research & Care
March 7-9, 2011
Sheraton New York Towers & Hotel in New York City
Genetic Diseases of Children Conference

The conference will focus on rare genetic diseases of children and offers a comprehensive agenda with five independent themes including: Reaching an Early Diagnosis; Sharing Family Experiences; Optimizing Care and Coordination of Services; Meeting Children’s Needs; and Accelerating Research.

For more information, go to: http://www.wadsworth.org/events/genetics/ or email: gdcc@wadsworth.org

The National Coordinating Center (NCC) has just published the October issue of their newsletter, the NCC Collaborator. It contains an article about newborn screening and clinical genetics improvements in Guam as well as other interesting pieces written by different regional collaboratives. To view the newsletter, go to: http://www.acmg.net/Current.pdf

The Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society (SACGHS) held its final meeting on October 5-6, 2010. The Committee focused on completing its education and training report and on drawing concluding thoughts about other pending issues, such as genomic data sharing, comparative effectiveness research and clinical utility, and implications of affordable whole-genome sequencing. For more information about the SACGHS meeting, go to: oba.od.nih.gov/SACGHS/sacghs_home.html

This year’s Maternal and Child Health Federal/State Partnership Meeting will commemorate the 75th anniversary of Title V of the Social Security Act. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 20th at the Hilton Washington in Washington DC. There is no registration fee to attend the meeting, but space is limited, so please submit your registration early to reserve a space. Registrations will be accepted through October 15, 2010. For more information including instructions on how to register for the meeting, go to: www.blsmeetings.net/mch75thanniversary/

Susan Atkins, a WSGSC Family Advocate from Washington was invited to the White House to help celebrate the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. For more information including pictures of the celebration, please click here.