The Animal Health Diagnostic Center (AHDC) and New York State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (NYSVDL) at Cornell University, established by law (New York Code - AGM - Article 5 S73-b) to support "the health of food and fiber producing animals, companion animals, sport and recreational animals, exotic animals and wildlife," is a comprehensive veterinary diagnostic laboratory, offering services in anatomic and clinical pathology; microbiology (including bacteriology, virology, parasitology, molecular diagnostics, and serology); toxicology; endocrinology, and comparative coagulation. The AHDC also includes the Quality Milk Production Services (QMPS) Program with laboratories in Canton, Cobleskill, Ithaca and Warsaw; the Avian Health Program, including the Duck Research Laboratory on Long Island, and the Wildlife Health Program. Additionally, our Veterinary Support Services faculty provide consultation and assistance to clients incorporating diagnostics in disease prevention, surveillance, and control programs. The AHDC will leverage this funding to study and support the responsiveness and readiness of the laboratory in state, regional, and/or national high impact disease outbreaks. It is imperative that the AHDC be a major contributor to a national system to help detect a first instance of foreign animal/emerging disease, and provide the testing backbone for disease control, eradication, and post outbreak surveillance.