Dr. Melanie S. Trapani, PhD, ABC-MB, serves as the designated AABB Laboratory Director and meets all of the AABB laboratory director requirements. Dr. Trapani completed her PhD degree with a Human & Molecular Genetics concentration from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Before joining Labcorp, she was an Assistant Professor and William R. Acquavella Scholar at Columbia University, New York, NY and was a Director in a forensic DNA identification testing laboratory. Dr. Trapani has approximately twenty years of experience as a Director in human identity testing and has been with Labcorp for twenty years. Dr. Trapani is board certified in molecular biology by the American Board of Criminalistics and holds a New York State Certificate of Qualification in both Paternity/Identity Testing and Forensic Identity testing. Dr. Trapani is also a certified Technical Assessor for the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB), the largest accreditation body in North America. In this role, she assesses the conformance of DNA testing laboratories, including the Labcorp DNA Identity laboratory, to international requirements for accreditation. She is also a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the Southern Association of Forensic Scientists.
As AABB Lab Director, Dr. Trapani keeps abreast of the AABB accreditation standards and works to ensure that the laboratory complies with the requirements. She provides on-site leadership during inspections by our accrediting agencies, provides training for personnel, answers questions from clients and staff, and validates new procedures. Dr. Trapani reviews parentage casework and provides expert witness testimony as needed. As part of her responsibilities, she ensures that Labcorp has one of the most exhaustive sets of frequency tables for parentage and relationship calculations. Having these frequency tables enhance the parentage testing services provided to clients, because the analysis is performed using the most appropriate frequency table based on the parties’ self-reported race(s).