About
Ren Salerno is the acting Associate Director for Laboratory Science and Safety at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He is also the acting director of CDC’s Office of Laboratory Science and Safety and of the Center for Laboratory Systems and Response.
Roles
Dr. Salerno's permanent position is director of CDC’s Division of Laboratory Systems. He is the lead CDC official for the federal tri-agency Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) program. He also serves as the Designated Federal Officer of the U.S. Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee (CLIAC).
Dr. Salerno is CDC’s point of contact for the following:
- FDA’s Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health
- CMS’ Division of Clinical Laboratory Improvement and Quality.
- Diagnostic and surveillance testing with:
Responsibilities
His responsibilities include:
- CDC’s Memorandum of Understanding on Surge Testing during Public Health Emergencies.
- Overseeing CDC’s cooperative agreement with APHL
Task forces and groups
Dr. Salerno has also served in the following leadership roles:
- Lead of CDC’s Expansion of Screening and Diagnostics Task Force for the COVID-19 Response
- Co-lead of CDC’s Laboratory and Testing Task Force for the COVID-19 Response
- Senior advisor for laboratory and testing for CDC’s Mpox response.
He represents CDC in the following groups:
- HHS Testing Coordination Group
- Tri-Agency Task Force for Emergency Diagnostics
- Federal Interagency Working Group on Improving Diagnostic Safety and Quality in Healthcare