Vanessa Cummings, B.S., MT (ASCP) is currently employed at Johns Hopkins University in the HPTN Laboratory Center as an International QA/QC Coordinator. She is originally from Guyana, South America. After graduating in 1990 from the University of Guyana as a Medical Technologist with a major in Microbiology, Vanessa worked at St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital Georgetown, Guyana in bacteriology, chemistry, hematology blood bank, serology and phlebotomy.

Vanessa was the Acting Supervisor of the laboratory from November 1991 to April 1992 and microbiology teacher for freshmen nurses at Mercy Hospital from 1992 to 1994. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1994, she completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Technology at College Misericordia in Dallas, Pennsylvania in 1999. Vanessa did her clinical year at Washington Hospital Center in Washington D.C. and worked in phlebotomy, chemistry, toxicology and hematology from 1999 to 2003.

Vanessa then worked as a Medical Technologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the Advanced Technology HIV Specialty Lab, proficient in HIV testing including HIV RNA PCR testing and HIV DNA PCR testing. She then transitioned to the Johns Hopkins University in 2008 as an International QA/QC Coordinator. She works with HPTN International sites including sites in Brazil, Peru, Thailand, Zambia, Uganda and South Africa, and with HPTN Domestic sites. She has worked on several HPTN protocols.

In addition, she conducts HIV testing and COVID 19 SARS CoV-2 on the Abbott Architect i1000 and Abbot m2000 and HIV testing on the Bio-Rad Geenius, OraQuick Advance Rapid HIV Antibody test, Uni-Gold Recombigen Rapid HIV test, and Hologic, Aptima HIV-1 RNA NAAT Qualitative Assay.