Dr. Chu received her PhD degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa with specialties in tropical medicine and medical microbiology. Dr. Chu’s public health career was with the CDC where she served in multiple roles including being the Director of the CDC’s system-wide laboratory enterprise. After leaving CDC, she returned to Colorado and now holds a clinical professor appointment at the Colorado School of Public Health. Concurrently, she works as senior technical consultant for USAID and WHO. Among her multiple roles for CDC, Dr. Chu was assigned to the WHO participating in the Global Outbreak and Response team, deploying for multiple outbreak responses to SARS, viral hemorrhagic fevers, pandemic influenza and natural disasters. She also led the biosafety and laboratory network activities for the WHO International Health Regulations team. She was assigned as the assistant director for public health to the White House during 2014-2015 where she was an integral part of the President’s Ebola Task Force and coordinated the national reform on the Select Agent Rule. Currently, she is working with UNICEF/USAID on the delivery of Zika virus point of care diagnostics and with WHO on improving protection for healthcare workers fighting high threat pathogens (Ebola, influenza and respiratory diseases). Since February 12, 2020, Dr. Chu has joined the WHO experts group for infection control and prevention for the COVID-19 epidemic.
Areas of Expertise
- Global outbreak and response
- SARS
- Pandemic influenza
- Biosafety
- Infection control and prevention
Education, Licensure & Certifications
- PhD, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Tropical Medicine and Medical Microbiology