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ASM and partners issued the following letter in support of funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advanced Molecular Detection Program.

March 23, 2023

Dear Chair Granger, Ranking Member DeLauro and Chair Aderholt:

We, the undersigned professional societies and associations, academic institutions and companies representing a broad range of scientific, public health and clinical professionals, thank you for your past support of the Advanced Molecular Detection (AMD) program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Given the program’s increasing importance to our nation’s public health response to infectious disease threats, we respectfully request that you provide $175 million for the CDC AMD program in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies bill. This funding level aligns with the level authorized in the Tracking Pathogens Act, which was enacted as part of a year-end legislative package in 2022.

As we move beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, the AMD program continues to form new partnerships and to innovate so that cutting-edge genomic and bioinformatic technologies can be deployed on the front lines of public health throughout the country and across the globe. While it has played an indispensable role in the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the expansion and coordination of national sequencing efforts to help the U.S. stay ahead of SARS-CoV-2 variants, the AMD program’s work is much broader. It supports every state in the U.S. for a wide range of pathogens and public health applications. By bringing precision medicine to public health, the program gives the nation new tools to detect disease more quickly and more accurately, identify outbreaks sooner and protect people from emerging and evolving disease threats, whether seasonal, such as influenza or RSV; endemic, such as Lyme disease; or epidemic in nature. Beyond pathogen surveillance, public health sequencing work informs vaccine development, helps to identify and track antimicrobial resistance and foodborne illness and informs the development of diagnostics for new, existing and emerging diseases.  

Thanks to Congressional actions over the past 2 years, the AMD program expanded training for public health and clinical laboratory professionals in genomics and bioinformatics, and it has helped to grow the workforce needed for data analysis, interpretation and decision-making. Through regional workforce development and investment in shared technology services, AMD is helping to ensure that that nation’s public health microbiologists, epidemiologists and other health care professionals have the tools needed to apply biotechnology-driven innovations to complex problems. This enables higher quality data and analytics that CDC and its public health partners can use to detect outbreaks sooner, respond more effectively and ensure that these tools are available in laboratories across the U.S. In addition to dozens of public-private partnerships that have been leveraged to address sequencing of COVID-19 samples, the program also has forged innovative partnerships with public health agencies and academic laboratories in 5 states through new Pathogen Genomics Centers of Excellence. These centers will ensure that our public health system can continue to benefit from rapidly evolving, cutting-edge science and technology that is driven by research institutions and well-connected to public health.  

Since 2014, the AMD program has employed next generation sequencing (NGS) to bring the concept of precision medicine to bear for “precision public health.” A funding level of $175 million for the CDC AMD program will ensure that this important work can continue now and into the future for the betterment of public health. We thank you for your consideration of our request. 

Sincerely,

AdvaMedDx
American Association for Clinical Chemistry
American Association of Bioanalysts
American Clinical Laboratory Association
American Institute of Biological Sciences
American Medical Technologists
American Public Health Association
American Society for Clinical Pathology
American Society for °®¶¹´«Ã½
American Society for Virology
American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Association for Molecular Pathology
Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology
Association of American Medical Colleges
Association of Public Health Laboratories
Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH)
Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
Biophysical Society
Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO)
Boston University
Clear Labs
Coalition for the Life Sciences 
College of American Pathologists 
Collier Mosquito Control District
Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
Entomological Society of America
Global Health Technologies Coalition
Helix Op Co, LLC
Illumina, Inc.
Infectious Diseases Society of America
Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California
National Independent Laboratory Association
New Jersey Mosquito Control Association
Northeast Regional Center for Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases
Quest Diagnostics
Southeastern Center of Excellence in Vector-borne Diseases (SECVBD)
The Gerontological Society of America
Thermo Fisher Scientific
Trust for America's Health
US Biologic, Inc.
UVA Health