Immediate Former U.S. Surgeon General Joins Lumos Diagnostics
According to a Sept. 14 press release, Jerome Adams, M.D. will serve as a strategic healthcare adviser to the Sarasota, Fla.-based Lumos Diagnostics and will be appointed to the company’s medical advisory board. From 2017 to 2021, Adams served as the 20th Surgeon General of the United States.
The release states that “As the immediate former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Adams brings a real-world public health perspective to the ongoing impact of global issues such as antimicrobial resistance and COVID-19. Utilizing his robust knowledge of public health, public policy, and health equity, Dr. Adams will advise Lumos on the effective deployment of its POC diagnostic technologies, beginning with the launch of the FebriDx® test in approved markets. FebriDx is a novel fingerstick blood test that can differentiate if a person has a bacterial or viral infection, which often have overlapping signs and symptoms, within 10 minutes. The patented, dual biomarker FebriDx test is approved for sale in Europe, the UK, Canada, and Australia and is currently under review for sale in the U.S.”
Adams is quoted in the release saying that “The pressing health challenges of the last 18 months have highlighted the importance of diagnostic testing as one of the key tools to fight both the current pandemic as well as the looming pandemic of antimicrobial resistance. We need to get ahead of these problems with a truly accessible outpatient solution. By measuring a patient’s immune system response in addition to assessing symptoms, clinicians can quickly determine if the patient has a bacterial infection requiring antibiotics, a viral infection that may benefit from additional confirmatory testing, or no infection that allows a safe return to school or work—all while reducing unnecessary antibiotics.”
Rob Sambursky, M.D., president and CEO of Lumos, was also quoted in the release saying that, “Lumos has found a match in our passion for public health in Dr. Adams. Together, we intend to make a meaningful impact for millions of patients each year by improving global access to innovative, cost-effective rapid diagnostic test solutions.”
The release concludes that “As Surgeon General, Dr. Adams oversaw 6,500 uniformed health officers in nearly 600 locations around the world serving to promote, protect and advance health and safety. In addition to serving on the frontline of the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as Surgeon General Dr. Adams worked to combat the opioid epidemic, rising rates of chronic disease, the impacts of rising suicide rates, promoted maternal health and helped businesses become better stewards and stakeholders in promoting community health and equitable access to healthcare resources. Dr. Adams currently serves as assistant professor of clinical anesthesia at Indiana University and practices as a staff anesthesiologist at Eskenazi Health.”
