​​About Us

​​The Center for Laboratory Sciences (CLS) supports the CDPH mission to protect the health and well-being of the people and communities of California by providing state-of-the-art analytical services and leadership for the state Public Health Laboratory system. It assures accurate and reliable clinical, environmental, and public health laboratory services through the provision of support services, consultation, and regulatory compliance oversight to its independent public health laboratories.​

​The core functions of the state laboratory system, located on the Richmond, CA campus of CDPH, is to provide a wide array of laboratory services and in conjunction with the 28 local Public Health Laboratories supports the testing needs of California residents. The Center focuses on providing quality, accurate, and timely laboratory results for clinical, surveillance, animal, and environmental testing services to ensure the health and safety of our communities. The Center also provides, through its Laboratory Field Services (LFS) Branch, oversight of clinical and public health laboratory operations and clinical and public health laboratory personnel through enforcement of both state and federal laws and regulations and is responsible for issuing laboratory licenses and certificates.​​​