APG Breaking Ground on New Lab

Aberdeen Proving Ground is marking the start of a $210-million project officials say will optimize its research in public health.

On Thursday, the military installation is breaking ground on its newest building, which will house the Army Public Health Center, where researchers work on preventing disease, injury and disability of soldiers, their families and Department of Defense employees and animals.

Currently, the Army Public Health Center is spread out across 10 buildings in the Edgewood area of Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), most built between World War I and II.

The new Army Public Health Center will encompass 279,000 gross square feet and enable the staff from those 10 buildings to work under one roof, enhancing logistics and operations, APG said in a statement.

“This project has been at least 25 years in the making, and it is exciting to see it come to fruition,” Army Public Health Center Director John Resta said in the statement.

Staff working in the new building will include a variety of experts, from toxicologists to veterinarians, who study products and compounds to keep defense employees and their environment safe, a statement said.

The Army Public Health Center is one of several operations at the proving ground, which contains eight medical research labs, 10 chemical labs, two physics labs, five human engineering labs and one materials research lab, according to APG.