PulseNet Awards

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Awards PulseNet has received

Innovations in Goverment Award, 2002

Innovations in Government Award, 2002

  • CDC Director’s Award for Innovation, 2015
    Given to the CDC’s Enteric Diseases Laboratory Branch, including PulseNet, and the Enteric Diseases Epidemiology Branch for exemplary leadership and innovation in implementing real-time, whole genome sequencing into nationwide Listeria surveillance, improving outbreak investigations, and enhancing food safety.
  • Secretary’s pick for HHS Innovates Award, 2014
    Recognizing the Enteric Diseases Laboratory Branch, including PulseNet, with its partners in the Enteric Diseases Epidemiology Branch at CDC, the Association of Public Health Laboratories, the Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the National Institutes of Health for piloting the use of whole genome sequencing for detecting and investigating Listeria outbreaks.
  • Innovations in American Government Award, 1999 and 2002
    This prestigious honor is given by the nation’s Innovations in American Government, the preeminent program devoted to recognizing excellence and creativity in the public sector. PulseNet was one of 15 programs chosen for this award, from 23,000 applications. For more information, see the Innovations in American Government Award Programexternal icon.
  • PulseNet honored at the White House, 1998
    In May of 1998, PulseNet was honored by the Vice President of the United States in a White House ceremony.

Awards PulseNet has given

Kati Kelley Award for Exceptional Service to PulseNet

The Kati Kelley award was introduced in 2008, in honor of Dr. Kati Kelley, who passed away December 29, 2007. The award recognizes a non-microbiologist who has demonstrated exceptional service to PulseNet, which includes demonstration of advocacy/outreach on the importance of PulseNet, major publications, or other material related to promotion of the network.

Background: Dr. Kelley dedicated over 40 years of her life to public health service, beginning as a microbiologist and advancing to become the Director of Public Health laboratories for the States of Alaska, Vermont, and Connecticut. She was President of the Association of Public Health Laboratories from 2005 through 2006. Dr. Kelley also served as Chief of the training branch for the Division of Laboratory Systems at CDC. One of her more important contributions to public health was her support of the PulseNet program. From spearheading the training for many early PulseNet participants to fully supporting her PulseNet staff in Connecticut, Dr. Kelley was an avid champion of PulseNet.

Previous Kati Kelley Award winners include:

  • 2020: Peter Gerner-Smidt, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • 2017: Efrain Ribot, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • 2015: Dave Boxrud, Minnesota Department of Health
  • 2013: Denise Toney, Virginia Department of Health
  • 2010: Dr. Bala Swaminathan, IHRC, Inc.
  • 2008: John Besser, Minnesota Department of Health

PulseStar and PulseNet Special Recognition awards

The PulseStar award was introduced in 1998 by what is now the Enteric Diseases Laboratory Branch (EDLB) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL). The award serves to recognize those individuals for their outstanding contributions to PulseNet, resulting in significant improvements to the procedures or communications involved with PulseNet activities during the previous year.

As many as three awards are presented at the annual PulseNet update meeting each year by EDLB/CDC and APHL. The award itself consists of a plaque and a check for $500 provided by the Association of Public Health Laboratories.

The PulseNet Special Recognition Award is similar to the PulseStar Award but can be awarded to outstanding groups, international participants, or individuals from federal agencies such as the CDC, Food and Drug Administrationexternal icon (FDA), and U.S. Department of Agricultureexternal icon (USDA).

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2022

  • PulseStar Awards: Christina Moore, Tennessee Department of Health Laboratory Services; Karim Morey-Castro, Oregon State Public Health Laboratory; Robbie Springer, North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health
  • PulseNet Special Recognition Award: Kristy Kubota, Association of Public Health Laboratories

2020

  • PulseStar Awards: Gina Kline, University of Iowa Hygienic Laboratory; Matthew Sinn, Missouri State Public Health Laboratory; Varvara Kozyreva, California Department of Public Health

2017

  • PulseStar Awards: Katie Kneupper, Texas Department of State Health Services; Julie Haendiges, Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Laboratories; Catherine Pongratz, Alaska State Public Health Laboratory
  • PulseNet Special Recognition Award: Francisco Duarte Martinez, Instituto Costarricense de Investigación y Enseñanza en Nutrición y Salud (Costa Rica)

2015

  • PulseStar Award: Lauren Turner, Virginia Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services.
  • PulseNet Special Recognition Awards: New York State WGS Team, New York State Department of Health Wadsworth Center Laboratories; Guadalupe Adriana Galicia-Nicolás, Ministry of Health, México.

2013

  • PulseStar Award: William Grooms and Joshua Tobias, Kentucky State Department of Health.
  • PulseNet Special Recognition Awards: California PFGE Laboratory, California State Department of Health.

2012

  • PulseStar Award: Deborah Baker, New York State Department of Health; Stephen Dietrich, Michigan Department of Community Health.
  • PulseNet Special Recognition Awards: Jenni Wagner, Utah Public Health Laboratory.

2011

  • PulseStar Award: Denise Griffin, North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health; Justin Nucci, Colorado Department of Public Health; Brian Sauders, New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.
  • PulseNet Special Recognition Awards: PulseNet Special Recognition Awards: Brenda Brown, CDC; Dr. Myriam Morcos, U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit #3.

2010

  • PulseStar Award: Pamela Honda, Hawaii Department of Health; Julia Wolfe, Orange County Public Health Laboratory; Valarie Devlin, Vermont Department of Health Laboratory.
  • PulseNet Special Recognition Award: Kara Cooper, CDC.

2009

  • PulseStar Award: Eric Brandt, Ohio Department of Health; Eric Casey, Texas Department of State Health Services; Jeannette Dill, Tennessee Department of Health Laboratory Services.
  • PulseNet Special Recognition Awards: Jason Abbott and Sharon Friedman, Center for Veterinary Medicine, FDA; David Melka, FDA.

2008

  • PulseStar Award: Elise Smith, Virginia Division of Consolidated Laboratories Services; Tracy Stiles, Massachusetts Department of Public Health; Jason Herstein, Missouri State Public Health Laboratory.
  • PulseNet Special Recognition Awards: Norma Binsztein, Malbran Institute, Argentina; Tennessee PFGE Team, Tennessee Department of Health Laboratory Services.

2007

  • PulseStar Award: Timothy Monson and the Wisconsin PFGE Team, Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene; Jan O’Connell, California Department of Public Health; Carol Sandt, Pennsylvania Department of Health.
  • PulseNet Special Recognition Awards: Christine Keys, FDA; Beth McGlinchey, Agricultural Research Service, USDA.

2006

  • PulseStar Award: Cathy Adams, San Diego County Public Health Laboratory; Alison Houston, University of Iowa Hygienic Laboratory; Ann Woo-Ming, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
  • PulseNet Special Recognition Awards: Mary Ann Fair, CDC; Susan Hunter, CDC; Bala Swaminathan, CDC.

2005

  • PulseStar Award: Carissa Pursell, Kansas Health and Environmental Laboratory; Lee Wotherspoon, Massachusetts Department of Health; Mike McDermott, Oklahoma State Department of Health.
  • PulseNet Special Recognition Award: Jim Jones, Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA.

2004

  • PulseStar Award: Ravi Pallipamu, Washington State Department of Health; Chris Carlson, South Dakota Department of Health; Donna Wrigley, State of Maine Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory.
  • PulseNet Special Recognition Awards: Kai-Man Kam, Public Health Laboratory Center, Hong Kong; Virginia DCLS Molecular Typing Laboratory Team.

2003

  • PulseStar Award: Dianna Schoonmaker-Bopp, New York State Department of Health Wadsworth Center; Paul Fiorella, Florida Department of Health Bureau of Laboratories; Wanda Manley, Wyoming State Public Health Laboratory.

2002

  • PulseStar Award: Wayne Chmielecki, Pennsylvania State Public Health Laboratory; Terry Kurzynski, Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene; Leslie Wolf, North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health.

2001

  • PulseStar Award: Stephen Dietrich, Michigan Department of Community Health; Stacey Kinney, Connecticut Department of Health Laboratories; Laura Kornstein, New York City Department of Health Communicable Disease Program.

2000

  • PulseStar Award: Clifford Clark, Molecular Typing and Toxin Detection National Laboratory for Enteric Pathogens, LCDC, Health Canada; Eleanor Lehnkering and Lori Yasuda, Los Angeles County Public Health Laboratory Molecular Epidemiology Unit.

1999

  • PulseStar Award: David J. Boxrud, Minnesota Department of Health Public Health Laboratory Division; Deborah A. Shea, Massachusetts Department of Health State Laboratory Institute; Denise M. Toney, Commonwealth of Virginia Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services.

1998

  • PulseStar Award: L. Victor Cook, Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA; Charles P. Lattuada, Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA; James Beebe and Dave Heltzel, Colorado Department of Health and Environment LARS Division Molecular Typing Laboratory.

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Page last reviewed: May 2, 2022
Content source: National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases (DFWED)