Kevin King

speaker

76 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Dec 2025 last heard 20 Dec

Kevin King’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Dec 2025 with 1.

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The Podcast by KevinMD · Understanding the unseen role of back-to-school diagnostics · 20 Dec 2025 podcast

Hi.

Well, I grew up in Athens, Ohio, and that's where Ohio University is.

I received a bachelor's degree in zoology and microbiology there.

But most importantly, I had the experience of working at a startup biotech company that had brought a diagnostic device to market.

And so that sparked a lifelong interest there.

in infectious diseases and diagnostic devices.

I then got a PhD and did two postdoc research positions and then made the transition into industry working in a contract research organization where I led a team of scientists that were developing diagnostics devices to detect infectious diseases, including respiratory products.

I then had the opportunity to return to Ohio and work for a company that was acquired by Quidel Ortho, and that's the company that I work at now.

I'm the senior director of scientific affairs.

That's globally for our respiratory point of care and cardiometabolic products.

In that role, I develop educational opportunities and teach our customers about our products.

Yeah, well, the article stemmed from my observation, both in my own household when our kids go back to school and from the literature that this is a time, although it's not, as epidemiologists would say, the start of the winter respiratory season, it certainly ramps up the amount of respiratory illnesses like strep throat, influenza, RSV, COVID, as students return to school.

I wanted to highlight that in the article that prevention is not just about taking the common precautions that we're all aware of, like washing our hands, vaccines, covering your nose and mouth, but also the importance of leveraging diagnostics testing early on.

following symptom onset, not just so patients get the proper treatment, but also to help prevent the spread of illnesses within your community.

So the piece came together through a lens of diagnostics and surveillance with a goal to emphasize how rapid diagnostics

And the data can help us anticipate and respond more effectively to what's coming later in the respiratory season.

For example, tracking increasing school absences, wastewater, looking at southern hemispheres.

Hemisphere illness trends all can provide early signals of which viruses are likely circulating in your community.

When this knowledge is shared, so for instance, from local health departments, it provides insights that can allow clinicians, schools, and families to act earlier and together to help limit the community spread of these illnesses.

Yeah, certainly for strep, but also for influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and COVID-19, of course.

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