By Lillian Parr

On Wednesday, June 8 from 1pm–2pm EST, the Council on Strategic Risks (CSR) will host a webinar entitled RADx® Initiative & COVID-19 Solutions: Bioengineering at Unprecedented Speed and Scale. You can register for the event here.

The webinar will discuss the RADx Initiative, which was launched in April 2020 by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to speed innovation in COVID-19 testing. The initiative has been incredibly successful in supporting the development and implementation of accurate, easy-to-use, and accessible testing technologies, and it serves as a useful model for current and future public-private partnerships and interagency collaboration.

The event will feature three fantastic panelists who have been deeply involved in RADx: Dr. Bruce Tromberg, Dr. Jill Heemskerk, and Dr. Rachael Fleurence. CSR CEO and Nolan Center Director Christine Parthemore will moderate. 

Dr. Bruce Tromberg is Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he oversees an approximately $400 million per year portfolio of research programs focused on developing, translating, and commercializing engineering, physical science, and computational technologies in biology and medicine. In addition, he leads NIBIB’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) Tech program. Prior to joining NIH in January 2019, he was a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Surgery at the University of California, Irvine. 

Dr. Jill Heemskerk is Deputy Director at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), which she joined in 2014. She serves as co-lead of NIBIB’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) Tech program. Previously, she held posts as Deputy Director for the Division of Adult Translational Research, National Institute of Mental Health, where her focus was clinical trials in psychiatry, and as Acting Director of the Office of Translational Research, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. 

Dr. Racheal Fleurence serves as a Senior Advisor in the Immediate Office of the Director at the NIH and as the Special Assistant to the NIH Director for COVID-19 Diagnostics. Dr. Fleurence is currently serving as Senior Advisor to Dr. Francis Collins, the President’s Science Advisor at the White House. Dr. Fleurence co-led the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics RADx-ATP program, and led the novel “Say Yes! Covid Test” program. Prior to her role at the NIH, Dr. Fleurence served as the inaugural Executive Director of the National Evaluation System for health Technology Coordinating Center (NESTcc) in the United States. Previously, Dr. Fleurence served in several roles at the U.S. Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

CSR looks forward to an insightful and interesting conversation with these three experts. 

This webinar is open to the public, and will include a Q&A session for our experts to answer the audience’s questions. It will be recorded and posted on CSR’s Youtube channel.

RSVP here.