PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, has hired Josh Wein to serve as its new executive director, positioning the foundation for continued success funding high-quality research to improve Lyme diagnostics and treatments. Wein succeeds Linda Giampa, who has joined the Board of Directors and will bring her 12 years of experience in successfully growing the foundation’s operations to the board. 

“Josh is the right leader for Bay Area Lyme Foundation as we enter this exciting new chapter,” said Bonnie Crater, founder and co-chair of the Board of Directors of Bay Area Lyme Foundation. “With his talent as a storyteller and passion for our mission, he will inspire the next significant advancements in Lyme disease medical research.”

Wein is an experienced leader with an extensive background in biotechnology and life sciences communications and a track record of helping organizations raise substantial funds. He has spent the past 10 years helping guide life science and healthcare companies including Delfi Diagnostics, Commure, and Guardant Health where he supported multiple $100 million+ financing rounds. His career started in journalism at the San Francisco Examiner, where he honed storytelling skills that will help him elevate the next phase of Lyme disease research with awareness of the challenging and misunderstood experiences of Lyme patients. 

“The global impact of acute and chronic Lyme has never been more apparent, yet very little money is invested in new diagnostics and treatments relative to other disease areas,” said Josh Wein, executive director of the Bay Area Lyme Foundation. “I am inspired by BAL’s prescient and consistent approach to bringing more resources to the field through direct research grants and the Lyme Disease Biobank, and I’m honored the board has trusted me to lead BAL’s next chapter.”

One hundred percent of Bay Area Lyme Foundation donations will continue to fund research including the new Lyme Clinical Trials Center at UCSF, which is initiating interventional trials and studies to improve diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease; Lyme Disease Biobank, which has collected more than 1,250 samples, enabling more than 105 projects in academia and industry; and the Emerging Leader Award, which supports new approaches and creative thinking to the field of Lyme disease each year. 

About Lyme disease 
The most common vector-borne infectious disease in the US, Lyme disease is a potentially disabling infection caused by bacteria transmitted through the bite of an infected tick to people and pets, and may also be passed from a pregnant mother to her unborn baby. If caught early, most cases of Lyme disease can be effectively treated, but it is commonly misdiagnosed due to lack of awareness and inaccurate diagnostic tests. There are approximately 500,000 new cases of Lyme disease each year, according to statistics released in 2018 by the CDC. As a result of the difficulty in diagnosing and treating Lyme disease, up to two million Americans may be suffering from the impact of its debilitating long-term symptoms and complications, according to Bay Area Lyme Foundation estimates. 

About Bay Area Lyme Foundation 
Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a national organization committed to making Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure, is the leading public charity sponsor of innovative Lyme disease research in the US. A 501c3 organization based in Silicon Valley, Bay Area Lyme Foundation collaborates with world-class scientists and institutions to accelerate medical breakthroughs for Lyme disease. It is also dedicated to providing reliable, fact-based information so that prevention and the importance of early treatment are common knowledge. Historically, a pivotal donation from the LaureL STEM fund covered all overhead costs through 2024. In 2023, a Bay Area Lyme Endowment was formed which allows for 100% of all donor contributions to the Bay Area Lyme Foundation to go directly to research and prevention programs in perpetuity. For more information about Lyme disease or to get involved, visit www.bayarealyme.org or call us at 650-530-2439.

Media contact:

Tara DiMilia

Phone: 908-369-7168

Tara.DiMilia@tmstrat.com