July

Rep. Dave Jacoby (right) poses with Director Christopher Atchison during a celebration in which Jacoby was named as the State Hygienic Laboratory’s 2014-2015 Ambassador.

October

New restaurant inspectors and instructors from Iowa Department of Inspection and Appeals, and Environmental Microbiology staff pose during a break from a course that teaches food microbiology concepts, procedures and techniques.

January

An outbreak of Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) sickens 1,153 people in 49 states – including Iowa – from mid-August 2014 to Jan. 15, 2015.

April

Representatives from Iowa’s public health system and the lab hold green cards to give the state’s laboratory system an “Optimal” rating during a Laboratory Systems Improvement Program.

August

Lily Fuger of Central Lee High School tests for levels of BPA in drinking glasses as part of her Student Mentorship project with the Hygienic Laboratory.

November

To reduce the reporting time from days to just hours, IDPH’s John Satre and Swathi Ramasahayam worked with the Hygienic Laboratory’s IT staff to complete a multi-year project to implement Electronic Laboratory Reporting.

February

Mallory Wills from Central Lee High School works with Marinea Mehrhoff in Radiochemistry, on her Student Mentorship project focused on radon levels in well water from Lee County.

May

“Our Special Family” is published. The children’s book was written by a mother of two children with biotinidase deficiency, which was detected by the Iowa Newborn Screening Program.

September

A grandfather’s inquiry leads to testing performed by the State Hygienic Laboratory for fungicides sprayed near a Missouri school.

December

Laboratory technicians in the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) conduct Ebola research.

March

Kizer Friedley and the Hygienic Laboratory begin teaming up with the Black Hawk County Health Department for CLIA oversight. Kizer works with the Hygienic Laboratory’s Wade Aldous who serves as the health department’s CLIA director.

June

Krystle Stehno, a mathematics instructor from Williamsburg Community Schools, prepares a sample for testing in the Environment Health Section.