Michael J. Loeffelholz, Ph.D., D(ABMM) is Vice President, Scientific Affairs at Cepheid. He received a Ph.D. in microbiology from Ohio University, Athens, OH in 1987. After completing a post-doctoral fellowship in medical and public health microbiology at the University of Rochester in 1990, he was a Senior Scientist at Roche Molecular Systems from 1990-1995. From 1995-2008 Dr. Loeffelholz held leadership positions in public health laboratories and private reference laboratories. From 2008-2018 he held the rank of Associate Professor, then Full Professor, with tenure, in the Department of Pathology at University of Texas Medical Branch, and Medical Director of the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory. Dr. Loeffelholz joined Cepheid in 2018. He served as a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2015 to 2022. Dr. Loeffelholz previously served as associate editor of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) and advisor to the CLSI Expert Panel on Point-of-Care Testing. He has authored over 100 research and review papers and book chapters.