National Academies Press: OpenBook

Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation of Additional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL, Phase 2 (2010)

Chapter: Attachment A Committee on Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation o fAdditional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL

« Previous: REFERENCES
Suggested Citation:"Attachment A Committee on Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation o fAdditional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL." National Research Council. 2010. Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation of Additional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL, Phase 2. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13054.
×

Attachment A
Committee on Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation of Additional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL

JOHN AHEARNE (Chair), The Scientific Research Society, Research Triangle Park, NC

THOMAS ARMSTRONG, TW A8HR Occupational Hygiene Consulting, LLC, Branchburg, NJ

GERARDO CHOWELL, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

MARGARET COLEMAN, Consultant, Cicero, NY

GIGI KWIK GRONVALL, University of Pittsburgh, Baltimore, MD

ERIC HARVILL, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

BARBARA JOHNSON, Barbara Johnson & Associates, LLC, Herndon, V A

PAUL LOCKE, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD

WARNER NORTH, NorthWorks, Inc., Belmont, CA

JONATHAN RICHMOND, Jonathan Richmond & Associates, Southport, NC

GARY SMITH, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, Kenneth Square, PA

Staff

FRANCES SHARPLES, Project Director

KATHI E. HANNA, Consultant Writer

PANOLA GOLSON, Program Associate

Committee Biographies

John Ahearne (chair) is Executive Director Emeritus of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, and Emeritus Director of the Sigma Xi Ethics Program. Prior to working at Sigma Xi, Dr. Ahearne served as Vice President and Senior Fellow at Resources for the Future and as Commissioner and Chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He worked in the White House Energy Office and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Energy. He also worked on weapons systems analysis, force structure, and personnel policy as Deputy and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. Serving in the U.S. Air Force (USAF), he worked on nuclear weapons effects and taught at the USAF Academy. Dr. Ahearne’s research interests include risk analysis, risk communication, energy analysis, reactor safety, radioactive waste, nuclear weapons, materials disposition, science policy, and environmental management. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1996 for his leadership in energy policy and the safety and regulation of nuclear power. Dr. Ahearne has served on many NRC Committees in the past twenty years, and has chaired a number of these, including the current Committee on Evaluation

Suggested Citation:"Attachment A Committee on Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation o fAdditional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL." National Research Council. 2010. Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation of Additional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL, Phase 2. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13054.
×

of Quantification of Margins and Uncertainty Methodology Applied to the Certification of the Nation’s Nuclear Weapons Stockpile and the Committee on the Internationalization of the Civil Nuclear Fuel Cycle. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society, the Society for Risk Analysis, and the AAAS. In 1966, Dr. Ahearne earned his Ph.D. in Physics from Princeton University.


Thomas W. Armstrong retired in 2008 from his position as Senior Scientific Associate in the Exposure Sciences Section of ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences, Inc., where he worked since 1989. Dr. Armstrong also worked with the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center as the lead investigator on exposure assessment for epidemiological investigations of potentially benzene-related or other occupational exposure-related hematopoietic diseases in Shanghai, China. Dr. Armstrong also spent nine years working for the Linde Group, as both the manager of loss control in the gases division and as a manager of safety and industrial hygiene. Dr. Armstrong conducted research on quantitative risk assessment models for inhalation exposure to Legionella, and remains professionally active on that topic. He has recently contributed to publications on mathematical models to estimate exposures to hazardous materials, and methods for exposure reconstruction. He was a member of the Society for Risk Analysis and remains an active member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association. The American Board of Industrial Hygiene certifies him as an Industrial Hygienist. Dr. Armstrong has an M.S. in Environmental Health and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Drexel University.


Gerardo Chowell is an Assistant Professor at the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University. Prior to joining ASU, Dr. Chowell was a Director’s postdoctoral fellow with the Mathematical Modeling and Analysis group (Theoretical Division) at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He performs mathematical modeling of emergent and re-emergent infectious diseases (including SARS, influenza, Ebola, and Foot-and-Mouth Disease) with an emphasis in quantifying the effects of public health interventions. His research interests include agent-based modeling, model validation, and social network analysis. Dr. Chowell received his Ph.D. in Biometry from Cornell University and his engineering degree in telematics from the Universidad de Colima, Mexico.


Margaret E. Coleman is a medical microbiologist, risk analyst, and sole proprietor of Coleman Scientific Consulting. She serves as Councilor of Upstate NY Society for Risk Analysis and various leadership roles, including her appointment to the Editorial Board for the journal Risk Analysis. Also an active member of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), she recently contributed an article to ASM’s Microbe (Microbial Risk Assessment Scenarios, Causality, and Uncertainty). Ms. Coleman contributes to peer review processes for several journals, including SRA’s journal Risk Analysis. She was selected as an expert in European Food Safety Authority database, as an expert reviewer for two NRC Reports (Reopening Public Facilities After a Biological Attack; Evaluation of the Health and Safety Risks of the New USAMRIID High Containment Facilities), and as a committee member on the Review of Testing and Evaluation Methodology for Biological Point Detectors. Ms. Coleman contributed extensively to the published literature on quantitative microbial risk assessment for infectious agents in air, food, and water. She recently developed freelance work on health risks from dermal exposure to Bacillus spores for a new client. Ms. Coleman earned her B.S. degree from SUNY College of

Suggested Citation:"Attachment A Committee on Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation o fAdditional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL." National Research Council. 2010. Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation of Additional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL, Phase 2. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13054.
×

Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse and M.S. degrees from Utah State University and the University of Georgia in Biology/Biochemistry and Medical Microbiology.


Gigi Kwik Gronvall is a Senior Associate at the Center for Biosecurity of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. An immunologist by training, Dr. Gronvall's work addresses how scientists can diminish the threat of biological weapons and how they can contribute to an effective response against a biological weapon or a natural epidemic. She is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and also serves on the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility. Dr. Gronvall is a founding member of the Center for Biosecurity of UPMC and, prior to joining the faculty in 2003, she worked at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies. From 2000-2001 she was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Associate at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Dr. Gronvall earned a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University for her work on T-cell receptor/MHC I interactions.


Eric Harvill is an Associate Professor of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at the Pennsylvania State University. His primary research interest is in the interactions between bacterial pathogens and the host immune system, and his group investigates both bacterial virulence factors and host immune functions at the molecular level using the tools of bacterial genetics and mouse molecular immunology. These studies investigate the effects these molecular-level activities may have on the population-level behavior of infectious diseases. Dr. Harvill has served on several NRC committees, including the Committee on Methodological Improvements to the Department of Homeland Security’s Biological Agent Risk Analysis. He has reviewed for more than 20 scientific journals and serves on the Editorial Board for Infection and Immunity. Dr. Harvill has reviewed proposals for six different National Institutes of Health study sections, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and multiple international funding organizations. He has organized international and local meetings and chaired sessions at annual meetings of both the American Association of Immunologists and the American Society for Microbiology. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles.


Barbara Johnson has over 15 years of experience in the U.S. Government in the area of biosafety, biocontainment and biosecurity, and currently owns the consulting company Barbara Johnson & Associates, LLC. Dr. Johnson has managed the design, construction and commissioning of a BSL-3 Aerosol Pathogen Test Facility, and she launched the U.S. Government’s first chemical and biological counterterrorism training facility. Research areas include biological risk assessment and mitigation, testing the efficiency of respiratory protective devices, and testing novel decontamination methods against biological threat agents. In the private sector she pioneered the development of the first joint biosafety and biosecurity programs between the United States and institutes in the former Soviet Union, and founded and directed a Center for Biosecurity in association with this work. She has served as the President of the American Biological Safety Association, and is the Co-editor of the journal Applied Biosafety.


Paul A. Locke is an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is a public health scientist

Suggested Citation:"Attachment A Committee on Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation o fAdditional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL." National Research Council. 2010. Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation of Additional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL, Phase 2. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13054.
×

and attorney with expertise in risk assessment and risk management, radiation protection law and policy, and alternatives to animals in biomedical testing. Dr. Locke is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) and chaired the NCRP’s 2010 annual meeting program committee. From 2004 until 2009 he was a member of the NRC Nuclear and Radiation Study Board, and has participated on two NRC Committees that evaluated the risks associated with the disposal of high-level radioactive waste. Dr. Locke has received several awards, including the Yale School of Public Health Alumni Service Award, and the American Public Health Association Environment Section Distinguished Service Award. He holds an M.P.H. from Yale University School of Medicine, a J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law, and a Dr. P.H. from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He directs the EHS doctoral program in Public Health.


Warner North is President of NorthWorks, Inc., a consulting firm in Belmont, California. Dr. North is also a consulting professor in the Department of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University. Over the past 40 years, Dr. North has carried out applications of decision analysis and risk analysis for electric utilities in the United States and Mexico for petroleum and chemical industries, and for government agencies with responsibility for energy and environmental protection. He has served as a member and consultant to the Science Advisory Board of the Environmental Protection Agency since 1978, and as a presidentially appointed member of the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. Dr. North has served as a member of the NRC’s Panel on Public Participation in Environmental Assessment and Decision Making and on numerous NRC Boards and Committees, twice as Committee Chair. Dr. North is a past president of the International Society for Risk Analysis, a recipient of the Frank P. Ramsey Medal from the Decision Analysis Society for lifetime contributions to the field of decision analysis, and a recipient of the Outstanding Risk Practitioner Award from the Society for Risk Analysis.


Jonathan Richmond is CEO of Jonathan Richmond and Associates, a biosafety consulting firm with a global clientele. Prior to starting his own firm, Dr. Richmond was the director of the Office of Health and Safety at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. He is an international authority on biosafety and laboratory containment design. Dr. Richmond was trained as a geneticist, worked for ten years as a research virologist, and has been involved in the field of biosafety for the past 25 years. He has authored many scientific publications in microbiology, chaired many national symposia, edited numerous books, and is an international consultant to ministries of health on laboratory safety and training. He served as President of the American Biological Safety Association.


Gary Smith is Chief of the Section of Epidemiology and Public Health in the School of Veterinary Medicine at University of Pennsylvania. He has a secondary appointment in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine and is an Associate Scholar in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He is also an affiliated faculty member of Penn’s Institute for Strategic Threat Analysis and Response. His research deals with the epidemiology and population dynamics of infectious disease in humans as well as wild and domestic animal species. He has extensive experience of mathematical modeling in the context of infectious and parasitic disease control strategies (including the evolution of drug resistance) and has published case-control studies on a range of

Suggested Citation:"Attachment A Committee on Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation o fAdditional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL." National Research Council. 2010. Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation of Additional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL, Phase 2. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13054.
×

infectious diseases of animals and humans. Dr. Smith served on an FAO/WHO Expert Committee on the implementation of farm models in the developing world; he served on the Pennsylvania Food Quality Assurance Committee, and he was a member of a European Union Expert Committee on Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy risk. He has served on the editorial boards of Parasitology Today, The International Journal of Parasitology, The Veterinary Quarterly, and Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Dr. Smith earned Bachelors degrees in Zoology and Education from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge respectively and a D.Phil. in Ecology from the University of York.

Suggested Citation:"Attachment A Committee on Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation o fAdditional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL." National Research Council. 2010. Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation of Additional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL, Phase 2. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13054.
×
Page 19
Suggested Citation:"Attachment A Committee on Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation o fAdditional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL." National Research Council. 2010. Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation of Additional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL, Phase 2. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13054.
×
Page 20
Suggested Citation:"Attachment A Committee on Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation o fAdditional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL." National Research Council. 2010. Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation of Additional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL, Phase 2. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13054.
×
Page 21
Suggested Citation:"Attachment A Committee on Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation o fAdditional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL." National Research Council. 2010. Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation of Additional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL, Phase 2. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13054.
×
Page 22
Suggested Citation:"Attachment A Committee on Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation o fAdditional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL." National Research Council. 2010. Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation of Additional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL, Phase 2. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13054.
×
Page 23
Next: Attachment B NIH Blue Ribbon Panel to Advise on the Risk Assessment of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories at Boston University Medical Center »
Continuing Assistance to the National Institutes of Health on Preparation of Additional Risk Assessments for the Boston University NEIDL, Phase 2 Get This Book
×
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

The National Research Council (NRC) reconvened its Committee on Technical Input on Any Additional Studies to Assess Risk Associated with Operation of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory (NEIDL), Boston University to provide further technical input on the scope and design of any additional studies that may be needed to assess the risks associated with the siting and operation of the NEIDL.

To this end, the NRC committee met in open session with the NIH Blue Ribbon Panel on September 22, 2010 to hear presentations by NIH's contractors on the approaches they are taking to conduct the risk assessment. Following the open meeting, the NRC committee met in closed session to begin preparing this brief letter report, focusing on whether the analyses presented at that meeting are scientifically and technically sound in general and whether they address the concerns raised by the NRC in its first three letter reports.

The committee reviewed the material presented by the NIH contractors on September 22 and concluded that it cannot endorse as scientifically and technically sound the illustrative analyses presented. These analyses do not, so far, represent a thorough assessment of the public health concerns raised by the committee in its previous reports. The committee understands that the analytical results discussed were incomplete and that work on additional analyses is still ongoing. Therefore, the comments provided in this letter report will be helpful to the Blue Ribbon Panel as they consider how the remainder of the work is carried out.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!