Charles D. Brokopp was named the new director of the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene Tuesday, returning to where he began his public health career over 30 years ago as a lab consultant.

Brokopp is currently the director of the Division of Select Agents and Toxins with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The office is part of the CDC's Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response.

"I was basically responsible for registration and regulation of about 400 laboratories around the country that possessed some of the most hazardous biological agents in the world," Brokopp said.

Before his work with the CDC, Brokopp spent more than 16 years directing state public health and environmental laboratories in Idaho, Oregon and Utah.

And Brokopp, a native of Lancaster, said one reason for applying for the position at the lab was to return to Wisconsin.

"Part of my interest in applying was coming home," he said. "It was a good opportunity to come back to Wisconsin after spending 30 years in public health in other states and for the federal government."

Brokopp said after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, he took some graduate courses at UW-Madison, home of the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene.

Darrell Bazzell, vice chancellor of administration at UW-Madison, addressed the benefit of having Brokopp back in Wisconsin.

"We're very pleased to bring Charles Brokopp back to Wisconsin, where he will provide us with more than three decades of experience from high-level public health arenas," Bazzell, who oversaw the search for the position, said in a release. "This is an important position for Wisconsin citizens, and his expertise on managing both well-known and emerging public health threats will be of great benefit to the state."

The hygiene lab, established in 1903, is responsible for monitoring the public health of Wisconsin citizens, educating citizens on public health issues and safeguarding the environmental wellbeing of the state. It has a budget of roughly $37 million and staffs 350 people, many of which are also UW-Madison faculty.

Brokopp will officially take his position on Nov. 6, succeeding Ronald Laessig, who has directed the hygiene lab since 1980.