Sonic Healthcare USA Hosts U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary to Highlight Innovations in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Sonic Healthcare USA’s Bernhardt Laboratories, located in Jacksonville, Florida, hosted U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar at their facility last week. Bernhardt Laboratories is an anatomic pathology provider specializing in women’s health, dermatopathology, and molecular pathology. Bernhardt Laboratories significantly changed its operations to mitigate supply chain challenges for Sonic Healthcare USA’s COVID-19 testing initiative.

Over the last few months, Sonic Healthcare USA has been one of the leading commercial laboratories who, as a member of the American Clinical Laboratory Association (ACLA), has assisted in the response for COVID-19, in close coordination with the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Sonic Healthcare USA has also worked closely with our scientific experts and medical and operational leadership to bring up multiple platforms to ensure testing access for patients. As of March 10, 2020, Sonic Healthcare USA launched molecular testing for COVID-19 and is performing over twenty thousand tests per day at our clinical laboratories. On April 21, 2020, we launched COVID-19 antibody testing to complement our existing molecular PCR testing.

“It was an honor hosting Secretary Azar to discuss and showcase the strategies we have employed to ensure testing access and timely result delivery for our patients,” said Dr. Phil Chen, MD, PhD, the Chief Strategy Officer and Head of the COVID-19 Taskforce at Sonic Healthcare USA. “Secretary Azar was very informative and gracious during his visit by offering us access to explore automated technologies and associated financial support, to further expand testing capacity,” added Dr. Chen.

“It is incredibly important that we continue to partner with governmental agencies aligning resources and approaches as we manage through the COVID-19 pandemic together. We are grateful to Secretary Azar for his leadership and support,” said Dr. Jerry Hussong, MD, MBA, the Chief Executive Officer of Sonic Healthcare USA.