Dr. Julie Gerberding Joins SummerBio Board of Directors

MENLO PARK, Calif., March 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SummerBio LLC, a pandemic preparedness and response company that provides high-volume, fast turnaround COVID-19 PCR testing, today announced that Dr. Julie Gerberding, the incoming Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) and former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has been appointed to the company's board of directors.

Dr. Gerberding is an international public health leader with three decades of experience in infectious disease, population health, and health policy. She was recently appointed as the next CEO of the FNIH to lead biomedical innovation with the NIH and other government agencies. Dr. Gerberding is a longtime executive at Merck where she currently serves as Chief Patient Officer and previously as President of Merck Vaccines. As the 15^th Director of the CDC, Dr. Gerberding is credited with expanding the agency's scientific agenda and maintaining its reputation as America's most trusted government agency, while managing the response to dozens of public health emergencies and infectious disease outbreaks.

"It's an exceptional honor and privilege to welcome Dr. Gerberding to SummerBio's board. She is world renowned for her work in the prevention and control of infectious disease threats, including HIV/AIDS, SARS, West Nile virus, avian influenza, Ebola, and others," said Dave Scheinman, Co-Founder and President of SummerBio. "As we look at meeting the evolving needs of the COVID-19 pandemic and preventing the next one, her insights and experience are invaluable in how we can improve testing and surveillance."

Dr. Gerberding's distinguished career has earned her more than 50 awards and honors, including the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Distinguished Service Award for her leadership in responses to anthrax bioterrorism and the September 11, 2001 attacks and the United States Public Health Service Surgeon General's Leadership Medal, among others. She was selected as Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women in the World (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008) and Time Magazine 100 Most Influential People in the World (2004).

"The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated areas where our country can improve our pandemic response and preparedness. As we enter the third year of the pandemic, taking the lessons learned during COVID and investing in technologies and infrastructure to secure our future is critical," said Dr. Julie Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H. "I look forward to working with the board as the company continues to make strides to innovate and modernize the way we respond to public health threats."

Prior to joining the CDC, Dr. Gerberding was a tenured member of the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where she completed her residency and fellowship in infectious disease and clinical pharmacology, and then established the UCSF Prevention Epicenter, a multi-disciplinary research, teaching, and clinical care center at San Francisco General Hospital. Dr. Gerberding received her undergraduate and M.D. degrees from Case Western Reserve University and a Masters of Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Public Administrators and serves on several corporate boards of directors.

About SummerBio
SummerBio is a pandemic preparedness and response company committed to high-volume, affordable, and timely testing for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. To meet the needs of the COVID-19 pandemic, SummerBio modernized and streamlined critical elements of the diagnostic testing process including developing an automated identification recording system, a novel sample collection kit, state-of-the-art robotics, and automated liquid handling systems. These innovations have resulted in a dramatic increase in throughput, results reliably returned within 24 hours, and a significant decrease in cost compared to existing RT-PCR testing solutions—all while maintaining the highest quality possible. SummerBio was founded by life science automation industry veterans with decades of experience building and operating large-scale laboratory robotics, combined with world-class diagnostic molecular biologists, laboratory scientists, quality assurance professionals, public health experts, software engineers, designers, and logistics and operations executives. SummerBio's lab is CLIA certified and California Department of Public Health approved. For more information, please visit the Company's website at https://www.summer.bio.

SOURCE SummerBio LLC