Fatal drug poisoning (“overdose”) is a growing public health crisis in the United States. According to the United States National Vital Statistics System, 105,007 drug overdose deaths occurred in 2023. Whereas opioids (including prescription opioids, heroin, fentanyl and analogs) were the leading cause of overdose deaths, the pharmacological composition of drugs has evolved into a “polysubstance death” crisis.  

Dr. Denise Kay, Director of the New York State Newborn Screening Program at the Wadsworth Center, was invited to present at the 2025 North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference, held October 22–25 in Seattle, Washington.

Click here for the October 2025 revision to the remote activities policy.

Click here for application and information about the program. Association of Public Health Laboratories 2026 Internship Flyer

The Wadsworth Center’s Mycobacteriology Laboratory was contacted by the Texas Department of State Health Services to perform drug susceptibility testing for a transplant recipient previously treated for pre-extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis beginning in 2022. After nine months of therapy, the patient was initially deemed cured following a treatment regimen consisting of bedaquiline, pretomanid, and linezolid (BPaL)—currently the standard for managing multidrug- and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR/XDR-TB).

The Safe Drinking Water Act sets stringent standards for the detection of radioactive contaminants in public water systems. A new study from the Wadsworth Center’s Nuclear Chemistry Laboratory explores how these requirements might be exceeded through improved analytical sensitivity.

Dr. Joseph Orsini, Deputy Director of the Newborn Screening Program at the Wadsworth Center, has been honored with the 2025 George Cunningham Visionary Award in Newborn Screening. This prestigious lifetime achievement award recognizes individuals working in U.S.

The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) held its annual Newborn Screening Symposium from October 5–9 in Providence, Rhode Island, bringing together approximately 570 scientists and healthcare professionals from across the United States and around the world. The symposium addressed a broad range of topics critical to public health newborn screening systems, including enhanced biochemical and molecular screening technologies; methods for detecting new conditions; quality improvement initiatives; strateg

The Wadsworth Center’s Mycology Laboratory has developed an in-house MALDI-TOF MS (matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization - time of flight mass spectrometry) library comprising rare yeast species, which is now one of the contributed databases available through the CDC’s MicrobeNet platform.

The New York State Newborn Screening Program housed at the Wadsworth Center was the first program in the U.S. to implement screening for sickle cell disease in 1975. Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder affecting hemoglobin, the major protein that carries oxygen in red blood cells. The abnormal hemoglobin causes sickle-shaped red blood cells that can break down prematurely and/or block blood flow, leading to anemia, pain, infections, and other severe complications. Sickle cell disease affects more than 100,000 people in the U.S.