Everlywell Appoints Former U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, MD to its Board of Directors
Dr. Benjamin served as the 18th Surgeon General of the United States under President Barack Obama
AUSTIN, Texas, March 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Everlywell, a leading digital health company, today announced new additions to its Board of Directors and executive leadership team, including its first Chief Laboratory Officer, Chief Product Officer, and Executive Vice President of Regulatory and Clinical Affairs.
Regina M. Benjamin, MD, MBA, was the 18th U.S. Surgeon General and Vice Admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service appointed by President Barack Obama. A public health trailblazer specializing in prevention policies and health promotion, Dr. Benjamin made history as the first physician under 40 and the first African American woman to be elected to the American Medical Association's Board of Trustees. Dr. Benjamin's appointment closely follows the company's Series D funding announcement, during which the company announced plans to significantly increase its virtual care offerings, drive clinical research and disease management through testing, and scale its national testing and logistics infrastructure.
"Everlywell was founded on the premise that everyone should have access to quality healthcare, especially the hundreds of millions of Americans who are uninsured, underinsured, or saddled with medical debt each year," said Julia Cheek, CEO and Founder of Everlywell. "Dr. Benjamin's work to increase healthcare access in rural and underserved communities is celebrated globally and recognized directly in the communities she serves. It's a true privilege to benefit from her experience as we build on her vision to create a world where everyone has access to the care they need, no matter what obstacles may stand in their way."
Dr. Regina Benjamin joins Dr. Judith Rodin and Dr. Garheng Kong as the latest additions to Everlywell's Board of Directors.
"The work Everlywell has done to improve access to lab testing, especially for uninsured and rural patients by delivering home collection lab tests to every corner of the country, is commendable," said Dr. Regina Benjamin. "As our country continues to struggle under the devastating effects of this pandemic, I'm reminded of other times when I've been called to deliver care to my patients in innovative ways. After Hurricane Katrina, I tried to make house calls but quickly found patients had no homes -- so I created a makeshift clinic on the stage of a shelter, and camping tents on the ground. Today, patients can order lab tests from their laptops and visit a doctor from their cell phone. So in some ways you could say we're still trying to find innovative ways to deliver healthcare."
In addition to Dr. Benjamin's appointment, Dr. Jordan Laser has joined the company as Everlywell's first Chief Laboratory Officer, where he will manage the company's laboratory operations and relationships with partner labs, in addition to growing the company's menu of test offerings. Considered one of the nation's preeminent leaders in the field of diagnostics, Dr. Laser joins Everlywell most recently from Northwell Health, where he led the clinical labs for a three hospital tertiary medical center and oversaw point-of-care testing for over 350 clinical practices and over 20 hospitals while running a full-service reference laboratory providing services for over 20 hospitals, hundreds of medical practices and for a number of strategic relationships. An expert in molecular genetic pathology, Dr. Laser holds a board role at the Association for Molecular Pathology and committee chair roles for the College of American Pathologists.
Everlywell also welcomed Dr. Marisa Cruz as Executive Vice President of Regulatory and Clinical Affairs, where she will oversee the company's compliance, regulatory, and medical affairs operations. Dr. Cruz comes to Everlywell from Limbix, where she was the company's Chief Medical Officer. Before working at Limbix, Dr. Cruz spent several years as a Medical Advisor at the FDA, most recently as Senior Medical Advisor for Digital Health in the Center for Devices and Radiological Health.
The company also announced that Dana Underwood has been promoted to the role of Everlywell's first Chief Product Officer. Underwood joined Everlywell in 2020 from Johnson & Johnson, where he was the company's Vice President and Global Head of Health Tech Products. In this new role, Underwood will lead Everlywell's first end-to-end product organization, inclusive of tests, physical kits, digital technologies, telehealth services, user engagement, and R&D of novel products and services.
About Everlywell
Everlywell believes Americans deserve access to affordable lab tests and insightful, digitally-enabled results with actionable next steps. The company connects individuals to certified labs offering a suite of validated lab tests including Cholesterol, Heart Health, Fertility, STIs, Lyme Disease, Testosterone, Thyroid and more. Everlywell also offers FDA-authorized at-home sample collection test kits for COVID-19, and was the first to provide access to at-home sample collection lab tests for fertility, high-risk HPV, and indoor & outdoor allergies. Prices are straightforward starting at $49 and tests are generally covered by Flexible Spending and Health Savings Accounts. Physician-reviewed, actionable test results from CLIA-certified labs are provided within days of sample receipt. The company also provides testing and engagement programs for health plans, healthcare organizations, and employers, including some of the largest health plans in the nation.
The Austin-based company was founded in 2015 and is advised by a Scientific Advisory Board that includes some of the nation's top scientists from Harvard, MIT, Google and NYU. For more information please visit www.everlywell.com.
SOURCE EverlyWell
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