Andrew Brooks

Andrew Ira Brooks (February 10, 1969January 23, 2021) was an American immunologist, academic, and businessman. He was an associate research professor at Rutgers University and the developer of the first FDA-approved rapid saliva test for COVID-19 diagnosis. Early life Brooks was born in Bronxville, New York, on February 10, 1969, to Phyllis (née Heitner) and Perry H. Brooks. His mother was a school teacher while his father was a diamond setter. He was raised in Old Bridge Township, New Jersey and later attended Cornell University, majoring in animal sciences with the intention of becoming a veterinarian. He switched his academic focus after a summer internship at Memorial Sloan Kettering and in 2000 received a PhD from University of Rochester in neuroscience. Career and research After completing his PhD, Brooks remained at the University of Rochester, later becoming director of Medical Center Core Facilities. Four years later, he returned to New Jersey to work at Rutgers, joining the faculties of Environmental Medicine and Genetics, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, and Toxicology. In 2009, Brooks began working at the Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository (RUCDR), a university-company for data management and research analysis. He eventually became CEO of the company and it became a private entity, now called Sampled, in 2018. He was also the chief science officer for Spectrum Solutions. He was a member of the New Jersey Economic Advisory Council, and the director of the Bionomics Research and Technology Center (BRTC) at the Environmental and Occupational Health Science Institute of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.