Sherman Washington, a native of Philadelphia, PA, studied and earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a minor in Sociology from Saint Joseph’s University. With Lean Six Sigma certification and over 9 years of experience in pharmaceutical manufacturing, he specializes in clean room practices, documentation training and inventory tracking for large scale production.  

Early in his career, Sherman served as a Research Lab Technician for the Center of Applied Genomics at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. Here, he was responsible for taking the internally collected DNA samples and quality control for the whole-genome genotyping assays, which included isolating DNA from saliva samples and measuring the samples concentration

In 2009, Sherman accepted a position with Merck & Co. Here, he moved through the ranks, holding numerous positions including: Biotechnician for Measles, Mumps, and Rubella; Chemist; Environmental Monitoring Technician; and Biotechnician Group Leader for RotaTeq.

As a Biotechnician, Sherman has executed various biological procedures, including cell counting by hemocytometer, weighing and dispensing of media and product using peristaltic pumps, pipetting, centrifuging, and filter integrity testing. Sherman recorded and reviewed all written work according to proper cGMP documentation practices, championing Right First Time initiatives and maintaining a noteworthy defect per page ratio of 0.25 defects per 100 Pages. He manufactured vaccines through validated procedures such as cell expansion, virus inoculation, harvest, filtration and re-dispense.

Sherman is proficient in clean room practices including sterile welding, bio-safety cabinet and laminar flow hood use, aseptic gowning and technique, cleaning and disinfecting procedures, SOP adherence and full knowledge of cGMP regulations.

Exhibiting strong leadership skills, Sherman has participated in a variety of cross-functional teams supporting special projects, including but not limited to: a LSS Yellow Belt Project for Cell Factory Discard Rate Reductions, a LSS Green Belt Project related to standardization of Cell Counting Techniques, a Training Committee for SAP/PAS-X Go-Live, a Capacity Expansion Project Team tasked with reducing INF/HVF cycles times by 50%., and Human Error Prevention Lead.

As a compliance officer, Sherman has a strong commitment to cGMP regulation with a concentration in SOP adherence, environmental monitoring and batch record management. Additionally, due to his vast knowledge in regulatory compliance, Sherman has extensive experience in internal auditing in preparation for regulatory inspections involving MHRA, EPA and FDA. Based on these audits, he has designed and implemented training and development programs with an emphasis on preventive actions to reduce future observations from inspectors. 

Applying his experience directly to cannabis, Mr. Washington is also an ideal candidate to assist even more specifically with:

• The set up of tissue culture laboratories
• Audit consistency issues
• Complex A/B tests for processing and cultivation
• cGLP practice implementation in their extraction facility or testing suite.
• Improving efficiency to reduce production costs in process operations.

Working alongside BSC’s Chief Education Officer, Sherman is well suited to provide instructional sessions covering best practices for laboratory settings and compliance. Sherman has a desire to not only help businesses thrive, but more importantly, to assist them in becoming quality control leaders in the cannabis industry.