Lyme Researcher to Open Lab in Polk

The Ledger - Lakeland, Florida
Dr. JoAnne Whitaker is bringing her work home with her.

The Bartow native, who is the director of the Bowen Research & Training Institute Inc. in Tarpon Springs, is opening a Lyme disease research center in Lake Alfred.

The center, which will be called Whitaker Labs, will be in the old Lake Alfred Medical Center at 245 Seminole Ave.

Whitaker, 78, said she can't wait to open the laboratory and to return to Polk.

"It's the most important thing I've done in medicine," she said. "This is the first one we are going to open up and we need to do it right."

The laboratory, which will be 6,000 square feet, will employ 20 people when it opens late this fall. Once the lab opens, it will test blood from all over the world for Lyme disease, said Estes "Dubie" Baxter, who is Whitaker's cousin and will handle the marketing for the lab.

"We're going to put Lake Alfred on the map with this Lyme test," he said.

The lab will also be a training center for the Bowen technique, which is a hands-on body therapy consisting of gentle rolling movements over muscle and tendons to stimulate the body's own healing mechanisms.

Lyme disease was named in 1977 when arthritis was observed in a cluster of children in and around Lyme, Conn.

Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria that is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected deer ticks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An infected person will have a bulls-eye rash and have symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle aches and joint aches, the CDC reports.

Whitaker said she chose the facility in Lake Alfred because it seemed to fit her needs. She also is buying a home there so she can be close to the laboratory.

"It's a nice little town, not like the hustle and bustle over here," she said of Tarpon Springs.

Whitaker's interest in Lyme disease research developed when she became diagnosed with it five years ago.

She developed a test using the fluorescent antibody technique that tests for Lyme disease.

"Nobody does this test except for our laboratory," she said. "We plan to sell licenses so other people around the world can do the test."