Dr May C. Chu

Name	Chu, May C.
Current Position	Clinical Professor at the Colorado School of Public Health
Affiliations	Colorado School of Public Health; University of Colorado in the Department of Epidemiology, University of Colorado; Anschutz Medical Center, Aurora, Colorado, USA.
Education	BSc., PhD. Postdoctoral Fellowship,
Country of Residence	United States of America

Dr May C. Chu is a Clinical Professor at the Colorado School of Public Health, leads a Covid-19 team at the Center for Global Health/CSPH, and participates in the World Health Organization Covid-19 research committee. She is leading a multidisciplinary, international study on Decontamination and Reuse of Masks and Respirators for Health Care Workers at the Frontline funded by Open Philanthropy.  A second project is the study of the safety and use of cloth face coverings for community wear, a study to define what household materials can be used for mask making.  A third project is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to serve as the Clearinghouse for COVID-19 diagnostic tests and developing serology panels to standardize COVID-19 serology rapid diagnostic tests being used in Africa and Latin America.

Dr Chu is recognized by global and US national leaders as an expert in high consequence pathogens diagnostics, managing laboratory systems, biosafety and biosecurity and global health security. She has worked at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and at the White House as the Assistant Director for Public Health in the Office of Science and Technology Policy during the West Africa Ebola epidemic.  Dr. Chu led the OSTP Ebola response team and was part of the President’s Ebola Task Force.  At OSTP, she led the national review of the Select Agent Program (bioterrorism); participated in the framing of the Personal Medicine Initiative and led the strategic planning for the future of the nation’s public health laboratory system.  As the senior science advisor for USAID, she led the  global review and re-imagination of the personal protective equipment (PPE) worn by healthcare workers at the frontline responding to the Ebola epidemic, also providing scientific guidance on the development of Zika diagnostic tests and reference materials. 

Dr Chu has had extensive experience working at the World Health Organization (WHO) where she participated in outbreak responses and was the laboratory alliance/biosafety leader on the International Health Regulations team.  Dr. Chu leads the WHO Advisory Committee on Innovative PPE.  She has served as the WHO scientific advisor to the Advancing Zika and Dengue Virus Diagnostics Workshop. Currently, she is a member of the WHO Experts Advisory Committee for COVID-19 Infection Control and PPE and co-leads the research on PPE decontamination and reuse and is also a member of the WHO COVID-19 diagnostics, reagents and biorepository working group.  At CSPH, Dr. Chu leads the CGH team to coordinate quality performance of COVID-19 diagnostics in Africa, Latin America and works with Chinese counterparts as part of a BMGF grant.