Center News

Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders in Biosecurity

Program Launched to Find the Best and Brightest

FEBRUARY 8, 2012—Baltimore, MD—The Center for Biosecurity of UPMC today launched a project to identify and develop a new generation of leaders in the biosecurity field. The Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative is a competitive program designed to create and sustain a multidisciplinary community of motivated young professionals with an interest in biosecurity.

Each year, the program will select a class of Fellows from government, defense, public health, science, medicine, and the social sciences to participate in a slate of seminars, biosecurity conferences, networking events, writing competitions, and educational webinars. The goal is to cultivate the “best and brightest” next-generation biosecurity professionals who will contribute to the future of the field.

Fellows will have many opportunities to interact with current leaders from government, public health, pharma, and medical and disaster response; to enhance their knowledge of biosecurity issues; to learn about careers in the field; and to contribute their ideas to the scientific and policy communities.

A distinguished Executive Steering Committee will provide strategic direction for the program. Members of the Steering Committee are:

Parney Albright, Director, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
RADM Kenneth Bernard (USPHS-Ret), Special Advisor, White House National Security Council
Luciana Borio, Assistant Commissioner for Counterterrorism Policy, FDA
Richard Danzig, Chairman of the Board, Center for a New American Security
David Franz, former commander, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases
John Grabenstein, Senior Director for Adult Vaccines, Merck
Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins, Coordinator for Threat Reduction Programs, U.S. State Department
Robert Kadlec, former Special Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Senior Director for Biological Defense Policy, Homeland Security Council
Lawrence Kerr, Deputy Director of Global Biological Threats, Office of the Director of National Intelligence
RADM Ali Khan, USPHS, Assistant Surgeon General, Director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response, CDC
Col. Randall J. Larsen, USAF (Ret), Chief Executive Officer, WMD Center
Tara O’Toole, Under Secretary for Science & Technology, DHS
James B. Petro, Principal Director, Chemical and Biological Defense, OASD
Alan Rudolph, Director, Chemical and Biological Defense Directorate, Defense Threat Reduction Agency
Andrew C. Weber, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and Chemical and Biological Defense Programs

“If this field is going to produce innovative, effective approaches to the biosecurity challenges ahead, then we need to continue to attract new talent and help promising young professionals find career paths where they can make important contributions,” said Dr. Thomas V. Inglesby, Director of the Center for Biosecurity of UPMC. “UPMC is proud of this program, and we are delighted that so many prominent current leaders have committed to help us grow the biosecurity bench for the future.”

Applications for the inaugural 2012 class of Fellows will be accepted until March 15, 2012. Details of the application process can be found on the Initiative’s website: http://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/our-work/emergingbioleaders/.

###

The Center for Biosecurity is an independent, nonprofit organization of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) whose mission is to strengthen national security by reducing the risks posed by biological attacks, epidemics, and other destabilizing events, and to improve the nation’s resilience in the face of such events.