Diagnostic and Surveillance Test Kits
Ginkgo Biosecurity, 2020-2025
Over a five-year period, my team developed more than a dozen diagnostic and surveillance test kits, each designed to meet evolving public health needs and user contexts. Among these, three stand out for their scale and impact:
A COVID pooling test kit that enabled over 800 K-12 schools to continue in-person learning safely through cost-effective, high-throughput testing.
The CDC’s at-home COVID PCR kit, deployed as part of the Traveler Genomic Surveillance Program to track emerging variants across 135 countries.
An airport wastewater surveillance kit, uniquely designed for global deployment to monitor pathogen emergence in transit hubs.
I led or contributed hands-on to every stage of these products’ development, including cross-functional requirements gathering, component sourcing and validation, specification package creation, packaging and labeling compliance, graphic design oversight, and crafting clear, user-friendly instructions. These efforts ensured each kit was not only accurate and regulatory-compliant, but also intuitive for end-users ranging from lab techs, to teachers, to international travelers.
Test Center Kits
Recognizing that a test kit is only as effective as the environment in which it’s used, I collaborated with service and graphic designers to build holistic systems that transformed complex public health workflows into intuitive experiences.
We developed modular signage, spatial layouts, and instructional diagrams that guided everyone from teachers to travelers through the testing process, reducing confusion, easing anxiety, and enabling sites to stand up operations quickly. These assets formed a “plug-and-play” kit that simplified complex testing workflows in settings ranging from schools to international airports, where clear communication and thoughtful wayfinding directly supported the safe, confident use of our kits.
By integrating these wayfinding and instructional elements alongside our test kits, we enabled routine, site-wide monitoring—providing communities with an early warning system for emerging pathogens and empowering decision-makers with actionable data.
