APHL and Ruvos Named Winner of 2024 Amazon Web Services Inaugural Children’s Health Innovation Award

Detor: The New Direction in Electronic Test Orders and Results

Detor was developed in collaboration in Ruvos
Detor was developed in collaboration in Ruvos

Bethesda, MD, Oct. 31, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) and Ruvos are pleased to announce their selection as winners of the prestigious 2024 Amazon Web Services (AWS) IMAGINE Grant: Children’s Health Innovation Award. This award recognizes groundbreaking efforts to advance children’s health using cutting-edge cloud technology and provides a combination of funding and AWS cloud credits. APHL and Ruvos will apply the funding to support Detor, an innovative solution that is revolutionizing data exchange starting with newborn screening.

Detor is an electronic test order and result (ETOR) solution that streamlines the exchange of critical health data between public health laboratories and healthcare providers. While healthcare providers rely on public health laboratories to conduct critical patient testing, the current process for exchanging test orders and results between public health agencies and healthcare institutions is challenged by several inefficiencies. Funded by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Detor solves these challenges by enabling faster, more accurate, and secure data transfers that will expedite critical interventions. Newborn screening is the first use case for Detor as nearly all babies born in the United States are tested for serious and potentially terminal inherited disorders, and almost all newborn screening is conducted by public health laboratories. 

Detor and the AIMS Platform

Detor is the latest innovation supporting public health offered on the AWS-hosted APHL Informatics Messaging Service (AIMS) Platform. Developed in 2008 by APHL in cooperation with Ruvos, AIMS is a cloud-based platform that serves as a hub to exchange vital public health data. Detor expands upon the longstanding and trusted infrastructure on the AIMS Platform to enhance data exchange capabilities and bridge the gap between public health and healthcare. 

“We are immensely grateful for this award acknowledging the hard work and dedication that went into developing and implementing Detor,” said Scott J. Becker, chief executive officer, APHL. “APHL’s collaboration with Ruvos and AWS has been vital to improving public health data exchange, and the benefits to laboratory scientists, providers, and patients have been almost immediate. We are excited for the expansion of Detor and its capabilities that are still to come.”

“We are honored to collaborate with APHL and AWS to bring Detor to life,” said Kristin Leffel, Chief Strategy Officer of Ruvos. “Our goal is to make data exchange effortless and fast, so healthcare providers can focus on what truly matters: caring for their patients. AWS technology has been instrumental in helping us achieve this vision.”

AWS Grant to Propel Innovation and Expansion

The AWS IMAGINE Grant: Children’s Health Innovation Award provides APHL and Ruvos with a combination of funding and AWS cloud credits, along with technical support from AWS experts. This support will accelerate the expansion of Detor, enabling it to scale beyond newborn screening to other high-volume, potentially life-saving tests, such as tuberculosis, HIV, hepatitis, and influenza, ultimately transforming the landscape of public health data exchange.

“We are thrilled to announce this inaugural cohort of recipients pursuing groundbreaking advancements in children’s health, pediatric care, and research enabled by the AWS Cloud,” said Dave Levy, head of worldwide public sector at AWS. “From applications of generative AI to enable precision care in pediatric genomics, to AI-powered tools for physicians, these organizations have audacious plans to improve health outcomes on a global scale. We’re excited to work closely with them to realize these goals with cloud technology.”

Over 85,000 nonprofit organizations worldwide rely on AWS to advance their missions and increase their impact. Through tailored programs and resources, AWS empowers organizations of all sizes to overcome barriers to technology adoption, enhancing the scale, performance, and capabilities of mission-critical operations.

For more information on the AWS IMAGINE Grant, visit https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/aws/ai-research-child-health-care-aws .

For more information on Detor, visit https://aphl.org/detor

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About APHL

The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) works to strengthen laboratory systems serving the public’s health in the US and globally. APHL’s member laboratories protect the public’s health by monitoring and detecting infectious and foodborne diseases, environmental contaminants, terrorist agents, genetic disorders in newborns and other diverse health threats. Learn more at www.aphl.org.

About Ruvos

Ruvos is a national health technology leader, integrating cloud computing, interoperability, data science, and cybersecurity to build and maintain much of the country’s public health digital infrastructure. Partnering with APHL, Ruvos designed and built the AIMS Platform that supports essential services, including electronic case reporting, immunization registries, and disease surveillance. See how Ruvos is powering the future of healthcare and public health data at www.ruvos.com.

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CONTACT: Michelle Forman
Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL)
2404852793
michelle.forman@aphl.org

John Shorter
Ruvos
225-235-3773 
jshorter@ruvos.com