HOLLYWOOD, Fla., June 1, 2011 — STARLIMS, an Abbott company, today announced that the California Department of Public Health’s Division of Communicable Disease Control (DCDC) has won a Best of California 2011 Project Excellence Award for implementing the STARLIMS v10 laboratory information management system (LIMS) in two of its laboratories.
The upgrade from STARLIMS v9 to v10 enhances DCDC’s capacity to protect the public from threats such as infectious disease outbreaks, food poisoning and bioterrorism. A fully web-based application, STARLIMS v10 facilitates information sharing among laboratory staff, and also between DCDC and other public health agencies while simultaneously controlling total cost of ownership by reducing IT costs associated with the maintenance of client/server based applications
DCDC won the award in the “Best Application Serving an Agency’s Business Needs” category. The Cal-LIMS system, which is based on STARLIMS v10, benefits the agency’s direct customers—the DCDC laboratory staff and managers—while at the same time enhancing interoperability with their public health partners.
“It is gratifying that our technology is helping the DCDC advance its important public health mission,” said Scott Goss, general manager, North America and Commercial Operations, STARLIMS. “We’re delighted that the DCDC has received this well-deserved award, and it’s encouraging to see such recognition for a project that is part of the nationwide Public Health Information Network.”
The Public Health Information Network (PHIN) is a national initiative, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for advancing information systems in public health organizations. STARLIMS has been an active partner in PHIN for many years, and now provides solutions to more than 20 U.S. states.
A STARLIMS professional services team specializing in v9 to v10 upgrades worked with DCDC to implement the LIMS system in its labs, from project definition to final deployment. STARLIMS’s upgrade program, LEAP, is being showcased at the APHL meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, June 5-8. LEAP is designed to help laboratories upgrade to v10, with confidence and no disruptions.
DCDC benefited from capabilities developed to support the more than 15 public health agencies already using STARLIMS v10. “STARLIMS v10 software and architecture fully support the industry’s standards, providing vital communication channels to the CDC and other laboratories in the network,” said Lev Bobovitch, Ph.D., senior manager, Global Marketing and Product Development, STARLIMS. “For example, the framework that has been developed for v10 will enable STARLIMS partners in the CDC’s Laboratory Response Network to have completely integrated messaging with the CDC, enhancing public health readiness for testing of potential terrorism agents.”
According to Bobovitch, another benefit of the STARLIMS V9 to STARLIMS v10 upgrade is being able to take advantage of the continuous R&D investments that STARLIMS makes in its technologies. In June 2011, STARLIMS will launch version 10.07, which focuses on essential enhancements to core processes and compliance with the Section 508 Amendment to the Rehabilitation Act.
About the Division of Communicable Disease Control
The Division of Communicable Disease Control (DCDC) works in partnership with local, state and national health officials; university schools of public health; non-governmental organizations; clinicians; and international health agencies to promptly identify, prevent, control, and monitor infectious diseases that pose a threat to public health, including emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, vaccine-preventable agents, bacterial toxins, possible bioterrorism, or pandemics.
About STARLIMS Public Health Solutions
STARLIMS information management systems consolidate all the activities of public health laboratories into a single web-based platform. This integration facilitates standards-compliant reporting, surveillance and collaboration, within the lab and across the public health network. STARLIMS serves the CDC, PHIN and public health agencies in more than 20 states, as well as international public health organizations. STARLIMS, an Abbott company, has been focused on laboratory information management systems for more than 20 years.
About Abbott
Abbott is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical products, including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics. The company employs nearly 90,000 people and markets its products in more than 130 countries.
Abbott’s news releases and other information are available on the company's Web site at www.abbott.com.