State Laboratory of Hygiene director named

Charles Brokopp, a leader with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, has been named the new director of the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene. He will begin on Nov. 6.

Brokopp has since 2004 been the director of the Division of Select Agents and Toxins, which is part of the CDC’s Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response. The division registers nearly 400 academic, governmental and private entities that possess, use or transfer biological agents.

The state hygiene lab is responsible for monitoring the public health of Wisconsin citizens, safeguarding the state’s environmental well-being and educating citizens on public-health issues. The lab has in recent years monitored the emergence of new pathogens such as hanta virus, new strains of avian influenza and other public-health threats.

The lab, established in 1903 as part of UW–Madison, has a staff of roughly 350 people and a budget of nearly $37 million. It maintains close ties to the School of Medicine and Public Health and other campus units, and many staff members of the laboratory are also UW–Madison faculty.