2022 -- H 8241

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LC005867

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2022

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

THANKING DR. EWA KING FOR HER TWENTY-TWO YEARS OF DISTINGUISHED

SERVICE WITH THE RHODE ISLAND STATE HEALTH LABORATORIES (RISHL) AND

WISHING HER CONTINUED SUCCESS IN HER NEW POSITION AS THE CHIEF OF

PROGRAMS FOR THE ASSOCIATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH LABORATORIES

     Introduced By: Representatives Craven, Shekarchi, Blazejewski, McEntee, Ajello,
Tanzi, Shallcross Smith, and Cortvriend

     Date Introduced: May 11, 2022

     Referred To: House read and passed

     WHEREAS, Dr. Ewa King, MSE and PhD, Lodz University of Technology, began her

distinguished public service career in March of 2000, when she joined the Rhode Island State

Health Laboratories department as a Quality Assurance and Laboratory Certification Officer in

the Environmental section. She is certified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a

laboratory auditor in chemistry and microbiology and under her guidance and direction, she

initiated a formal quality assurance program compliant with the EPA and reinstituted the

certification program for analytical (environmental testing) laboratories; and

     WHEREAS, Dr. King was promoted in 2003 to the position of Chief of the

Environmental Section, and thanks to her tireless work ethic and strong leadership abilities, was

able to greatly improve the quality and efficiency of the environmental laboratories within the

section, as well as initiating the Chemical Terrorism Preparedness program; and

     WHEREAS, In 2006, Dr. King was appointed Laboratory Director for the Division of

Laboratories, which later became the Division of Health Laboratories and Medical Examiners.

During her sixteen years as the State Laboratory Director, she has overseen the expansion of

highly qualified and well-trained personnel, and has been quite successful in her efforts to secure

stable levels of federal and state funding for laboratory programs; and

     WHEREAS, Highlights of Dr. King’s tenure include gaining internationally recognized

accreditation for multiple laboratory programs in addition to several federal agency certifications.

She also implemented a biomonitoring program which is a study of how environmental

contaminants can be measured in the human body, and created an opioids bio-surveillance

program which is a rigorous method of characterizing non-fatal overdoses; and

     WHEREAS, Dr. King successfully led the Department’s response to the Covid-19

pandemic, including the detection of the first case of Covid-19 in Rhode Island. She also

successfully obtained an unprecedented $81.7 million grant from the Centers of Disease Control

(CDC) for the construction of a new laboratory; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby

thanks Dr. Ewa King for her twenty-two years of distinguished service with the Rhode Island

State Health Laboratories(RISHL) and wishes her continued success in her new position as the

Chief of Programs for the Association of Public Health Laboratories; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Dr. Ewa King.

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LC005867

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