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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
×

 

Appendix A

Committee Biosketches

Gregory B. Baecher (Chair) is the Glenn L. Martin Institute Professor of Engineering at the University of Maryland. His research focuses on the reliability of civil infrastructure and risks posed by natural hazards and the response of infrastructure to those hazards. In recent years, his research has dealt with dam safety and with the response of levee systems to flooding, including actuarial issues related to flood and other natural hazard insurance. He has also worked on quantitative methods in facilities management, especially federally owned facilities, and on information technology applications to facilities management. Dr. Baecher was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2006 for his work in the development, explication, and implementation of probabilistic- and reliability-based approaches to geotechnical and water-resources engineering. He is a recipient of the Commander’s Award for Public Service from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a recipient of the Thomas A. Middlebrooks Award and State-of-the-Art Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers. He is co-author of Reliability and Statistics in Geotechnical Engineering (2003), Risk and Uncertainty in Dam Safety (2004), and Protection of Civil Infrastructure from Acts of Terrorism (2006). Dr. Baecher received his Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his B.S.C.E. from the University of California at Berkeley.

Thomas W. Armstrong retired in 2008 from his position as senior scientific associate in the Exposure Sciences Group of ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences, Inc., where he had worked since 1989. Dr. Armstrong also worked with the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center as the lead investi-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
×

gator on exposure assessment for epidemiological investigations of potentially benzene-related or other occupational exposure-related hematopoietic diseases in Shanghai, China. Dr. Armstrong spent 9 years working for the Linde Group as the manager of loss control in the gases division and as a manager of safety and industrial hygiene. He 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 on methods of 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 has certified him as an industrial hygienist. Dr. Armstrong received his Ph.D. in environmental engineering and M.S. in environmental health from Drexel University.

Richard E. Breitmeyer was appointed director of the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System in November 2010. Operating under the administration of the University of California at Davis (UC Davis) School of Veterinary Medicine, the laboratory system is the backbone of California’s animal disease surveillance and detection system and is used to safeguard human and animal health from naturally occurring or intentionally introduced animal diseases by rapidly and reliably diagnosing diseases found in animals. Before joining UC Davis, Dr. Breitmeyer had a 26-year career with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), serving as California’s state veterinarian from 1993 to 2010. As state veterinarian, he had the statutory authority to quarantine domestic animals or food to protect the health and safety of animals and the public. From 1993 to 2004, Dr. Breitmeyer also served as the director of Animal Health and Food Safety Services and oversaw an annual budget of $30 million and 250 employees engaged in programs for animal health, milk and dairy foods control, meat and poultry inspection, and livestock identification. Before joining CDFA, he was a private practitioner in Humboldt and San Luis Obispo counties. Dr. Breitmeyer is an active member of many state and national organizations and is the immediate past president of the United States Animal Health Association. He also served for 10 years on the Secretary of Agriculture’s Advisory Committee for Foreign Animal and Poultry Diseases. Dr. Breitmeyer received his D.V.M. and M.P.V.M. degrees from UC Davis, and he conducted his undergraduate studies at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Corrie C. Brown is the Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia. Her research includes the study of pathogenesis of infectious disease in food-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
×

producing animals through the use of immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. She is active in the fields of emerging diseases and international veterinary medicine and serves as coordinator of international activities for the College of Veterinary Medicine. Before joining the University of Georgia in 1996, she worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Plum Island Foreign Animal Disease Center for 10 years, conducting pathogenesis studies on many foreign animal diseases. Her bench research at the University of Georgia has focused on poultry diseases, and she works closely with the USDA facility in Athens that is dedicated to foreign diseases of poultry. In educational research, she has several grants to promote national animal health infrastructure in developing nations. Dr. Brown is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists. She has published or presented more than 250 scientific papers and has testified before Congress on issues involving agroterrorism. Dr. Brown has served on many industrial and federal panels and has been a technical consultant to numerous foreign governments on issues involving infectious diseases and animal health infrastructure. She received her Ph.D. in veterinary pathology with a specialization in infectious diseases from the University of California at Davis and her D.V.M. from the University of Guelph.

Mark T. Hernandez is a professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. His research interests lie at the cusp of molecular biology and civil engineering, focusing on the characterization and control of biological air pollution, both natural and anthropogenic. His recent work has focused on engineering disinfection systems for airborne bacteria and viruses and on tracking bioaerosols through natural weather patterns and catastrophic events (such as Hurricane Katrina). He is a registered professional civil engineer and an active technical consultant in the commercial waste-treatment and industrial hygiene sectors. Dr. Hernandez serves as an editor of Aerosol Science and Technology and is the director of the Colorado Diversity Initiative. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. in environmental engineering and his B.S. in civil engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.

Ahsan Kareem is the Robert M. Moran Professor of Engineering and the director of the NatHaz Modeling Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame. His research uses computer models and laboratory and full-scale experiments to study the dynamic effects of environmental loads under winds, waves, and earthquakes to understand and predict the impact of natural hazards on the constructed environment, and to develop mitigation strategies that enhance the performance and safety of structures. He is a former president of the American Association for Wind Engineering and past editor-in-chief of the international journal Wind and Structures.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
×

Dr. Kareem is the recipient of the Alan G. Davenport Medal presented by the International Association for Wind Engineering in recognition of his distinguished achievement in dynamic wind effects on structures and of the Robert H. Scanlan Medal for outstanding contributions to the study of aeroelasticity/aerodynamics and wind-load effects on structural design and the Jack E. Cermak Medal in recognition of his contributions to the understanding of wind effects on structures from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Dr. Kareem was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2009 for his contributions to analyses and designs to account for wind effects on tall buildings, long-span bridges, and other structures. In 2010, he was elected a foreign fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering and elected a distinguished member of ASCE for his knowledge and eminence in the field of wind engineering, structural engineering, and engineering mechanics; for his contributions to the ASCE Wind Loads Standards; and for his development of Web-based technologies and design tools for practice. Dr. Kareem received his Ph.D. in civil engineering from Colorado State University, M.Sc. in civil engineering from the University of Hawaii, and B.Sc. in civil engineering from West Pakistan University of Engineering and Technology.

Brendan McCluskey was appointed executive director of the Office of Emergency Management and Occupational Health and Safety at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) in 2006 and directs security for the university’s biosafety level 3 laboratories. He had previously been deputy director of the Center for BioDefense (2001–2004) and acting director of the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive Center for Training and Research (2004–2006) at the university. He has served as a member of the New Jersey Governor’s Task Force on Campus Safety since 2007. Mr. McCluskey is a certified emergency manager and serves as chair of the Universities and Colleges Caucus of the International Association of Emergency Managers. In 2002, he was appointed an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UMDNJ, where he teaches courses on bioterrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and homeland security. Until 2009, Mr. McCluskey was also an assistant professor at Kean University, where he taught courses in public administration, bioterrorism, and public health policy. He received his J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law and his B.A. and M.P.A. from Kean University.

Ali Mosleh holds the Nicole J. Kim Eminent Professor of Engineering Chair and is the director of the Center for Risk and Reliability at the University of Maryland. He conducts research on methods for probabilistic risk analysis (PRA) and reliability of complex systems. He has made many contributions

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
×

in diverse fields of theory and application, including Bayesian methods of inference with uncertain evidence; analysis of data and expert judgment; treatment of model uncertainty; risk and reliability of hybrid systems of hardware, human, and software; methods and tools for dynamic PRA; cognitive models for human reliability analysis; and models of the influence of organizational factors on system reliability and safety. Dr. Mosleh has led numerous projects on reliability, risk, safety, and security assessments for the aerospace, nuclear, chemical, and information systems industries. In 2004, Dr. Mosleh was appointed by President George W. Bush to the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, a position in which he continues to serve in the administration of President Barack Obama. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the Society for Risk Analysis, recipient of several scientific achievement awards, and a consultant and technical adviser to national and international organizations. Dr. Mosleh received his Ph.D. in nuclear science and engineering from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Stephen M. Ostroff is the acting physician general for the Pennsylvania Department of Health. In this role, he partners with public health professionals on matters related to department programs and executive branch agencies and reviews standards and practices of medicine in the jurisdiction of the department. Dr. Ostroff acts as the primary adviser on medical issues to both the secretary of health and the governor and represents the department before the General Assembly, the press, medical professionals, and community and citizens groups. In addition to functioning as the acting physician general, he has been the director of the Bureau of Epidemiology since 2007. Before his retirement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Ostroff was the assistant surgeon general and deputy director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases from 2002 to 2005, where he coordinated activities related to outbreak investigations, antimicrobial resistance, and bioterrorism. From 2001 to 2003, he served as acting director of CDC’s Select Agents program, and from 2001 to 2005, he served as president of the Department of Defense Armed Forces Epidemiology Board. Dr. Ostroff is also the immediate past president of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and serves on CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee. During his career, he has authored over 80 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on emerging infectious diseases and has testified before Congress on a number of occasions. Dr. Ostroff received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed residencies in internal medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and in preventive medicine at CDC.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
×

Philip L. Paarlberg is a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University. His research interests include the economic impacts of livestock disease outbreaks, and he is a coauthor of several articles related to the potential revenue and welfare impacts of a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in the United States. His teaching responsibilities cover agricultural policy and international trade. He has had extensive experience in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS) from 1977 to 1985, where he analyzed international trade policy issues. In 1991–1992, Dr. Paarlberg was a visiting professor at the University of Goettingen. His awards include a USDA Superior Service Award, an award for superior research from ERS, an American Agricultural Economics Association award for his Ph.D. thesis, and an award for outstanding journal article for 2003 from the Southern Agricultural Economics Association. Dr. Paarlberg received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in agricultural economics and B.A. in history from Purdue University.

Timothy C. Reluga is an assistant professor of mathematics and biology at Pennsylvania State University. His research focuses on the description, understanding, and prediction of the dynamics of biological systems. His core research interest is in population biology, but his work also encompasses topics in evolutionary biology, immunology, epidemiology, and computer science. His most recent work has focused on incorporating social and behavioral factors into theories of infectious disease dynamics and management and on using mathematical models to predict the biological and ecological transmission process of disease. He served on the National Research Council Committee to Review the Health and Safety Risks of High Biocontainment Laboratories at Fort Detrick. Dr. Reluga received his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Washington and his B.S. in biology and mathematics from Tufts University.

Joseph V. Rodricks is a founding principal of ENVIRON and a visiting professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is an internationally recognized expert in the field of toxicology and risk analysis. Since 1980, Dr. Rodricks has consulted for hundreds of manufacturers, government agencies, and the World Health Organization in the evaluation of health risks associated with human exposure to chemical substances. His experience includes chemical products and contaminants in foods, food ingredients, air, water, hazardous wastes, the workplace, consumer products, medical devices, and pharmaceutical products. Dr. Rodricks was formerly deputy associate commissioner for health affairs and a toxicologist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (1965–1980). He has served on 25 boards and committees of the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine, including the committees that produced the

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
×

seminal works Risk Assessment in the Federal Government: Managing the Process (1983) and Science and Decisions: Advancing Risk Assessment (2009). He has more than 200 publications on toxicology and risk analysis and is the author of Calculated Risks (Cambridge University Press), a nontechnical introduction to toxicology and risk analysis that is now available in a fully revised and updated second edition, for which he won an award from the American Medical Writers Association. Dr. Rodricks received his Ph.D. in biochemistry and M.S. in organic chemistry from the University of Maryland and his B.S. in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

James A. Roth is the Clarence Hartley Covault Distinguished Professor in the Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine of the College of Veterinary Medicine of Iowa State University. He is the director of the Center for Food Security and Public Health of Iowa State University and an adjunct professor in the Department of Epidemiology of the College of Public Health of the University of Iowa. Dr. Roth’s research interests are in evaluating cell-mediated immunity to bovine and porcine infectious agents and vaccines and in developing a recombinant vaccine for Nipah virus. He has testified before Congress on biosecurity preparedness and efforts to address bioterrorism. Dr. Roth serves on the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, and has served on the Interagency Weapons of Mass Destruction Counter Measures Working Group Animal Pathogen Research and Development Subgroup, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Blue Ribbon Panel on the Threat of Biological Terrorism Directed Against Livestock. He is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists. Dr. Roth received his Ph.D. and M.S. in veterinary microbiology, and his D.V.M. from Iowa State University.

Lee H. Thompson is the director of institutional biocontainment resources and an assistant professor of pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB). As the director of institutional biocontainment at UTMB, he oversees the physical operations of the biosafety level 3 and 4 (BSL-3 and BSL-4) facilities, develops policies and procedures relevant to safety for the facilities, and provides guidance on facility construction and renovation projects. He has also monitored the construction and commissioning activities for the BSL-4 facility at UTMB. Before his appointment at UTMB, he was invited by the Canadian minister of health to serve as the chief of safety and environmental services for the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health in Winnipeg. In that role, he provided advice on construction and commissioning of the BSL-3, BSL-3Ag, and BSL-4 facilities and developed the standard operating procedures for activation, operation and maintenance, safety, and training. Mr. Thompson

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
×

has also served as an invited design and biosafety consultant for a number of BSL-4 laboratories, including those at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Ft. Detrick, Maryland, and at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana. Before retiring from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he was microbiologist and safety director in the arthropod-borne animal disease research laboratory with the Agricultural Research Service, where he conducted research on insect-transmitted viral diseases of ruminants and was responsible for biological safety, facility design, operation, and security in containment. Mr. Thompson received his B.S. in microbiology from Metropolitan State College in Denver, Colorado.

Mark C. Thurmond is professor emeritus of veterinary epidemiology in the Department of Medicine and Epidemiology in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California at Davis (UC Davis). He remains involved part-time as the co-director of the Center for Animal Disease Modeling and Surveillance and co-director of the Foot-and-Mouth Disease Surveillance and Modeling Laboratory, where he continues to pursue his research interests in infectious disease epidemiology and surveillance, particularly as related to foot-and-mouth disease. His interests during the last 40 years of professional teaching, research, and service have included clinical medicine and clinical epidemiology, primarily related to infectious diseases of livestock, new methods for diagnostic epidemiology, and modeling and developing disease control and surveillance systems. His clinical practice focused mainly on provision of herd health programs and service to the dairy industry. Dr. Thurmond received his Ph.D. in dairy science and epidemiology from the University of Florida and his D.V.M. and M.P.V.M. from UC Davis.

Akula Venkatram is a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Riverside, where he has been since 1993. Dr. Venkatram’s research interests include the comprehensive modeling of systems governing air quality, theoretical aspects of small-scale dispersion, the application of micrometeorology to dispersion problems, and the development of simplified models for complex systems. His research group has conducted several field studies to collect data to develop dispersion models applicable to urban areas. Dr. Venkatram has led the development of comprehensive long-range transport models, including the Acid Deposition and Oxidant Model (ADOM), the Visibility and Haze in the Western Atmosphere (VISHWA) model, and the Simplified Ozone Modeling System (SOMS). He was a member of the committee that developed the American Meteorological Society–Environmental Protection Agency (AMS/EPA) Regulatory Model (AERMOD), which has replaced ISC as EPA’s regulatory model. He now serves on an EPA committee that is charged with overseeing the improve-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
×

ment of AERMOD. Dr. Venkatram served on the Advisory Council of the South Coast Air Quality Management District (1993–1997) and was a member of the Risk Assessment Advisory Committee of the California EPA. He is currently the chair of the Airport Modeling Advisory Committee appointed by the Federal Aviation Administration. Dr. Venkatram is a former vice president of air sciences at ENSR Consulting and Engineering. He served as a research scientist in the Atmospheric Environment Service, Canada, for a year before joining the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Toronto. Dr. Venkatram received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Purdue University and his B.S. in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India.

Patrick M. Webb is the director of swine health programs at the National Pork Board, which he joined in 2005. He is responsible for the Pork Checkoff’s efforts in animal identification, pre-harvest traceability, and foreign animal disease planning, preparedness, and response. Earlier, Dr. Webb worked as a private veterinary practitioner in a food animal practice in rural Iowa. He has also worked for Iowa’s Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship as a foreign animal disease program coordinator, where he developed the department’s emergency preparedness plan for animal disease disasters. Throughout his career, Dr. Webb has worked extensively on emergency preparedness and planning at the local, state, and federal levels. He has developed and delivered numerous educational programs directed at training producers, veterinarians, county emergency managers, and first responders in how to react to foreign animal disease disasters. He completed his training at the Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at Plum Island. Dr. Webb is a member of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, the Iowa Veterinary Medical Association, and the American Veterinary Medical Association. He received his D.V.M. and B.S. in animal science from Iowa State University.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
×

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Committee Biosketches." National Research Council. 2012. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13418.
×
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Safeguarding U.S. agriculture from foreign animal diseases and protecting our food system require cutting-edge research and diagnostic capabilities. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have embarked on an important mission to replace the aging Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC) with a new facility, the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF). When operational, this new facility would be the world's fourth biosafety level-4 laboratory capable of large animal research. It would serve as a critical world reference laboratory for identifying emerging and unknown disease threats, and would thus be a critical asset in securing the future health, wealth, and security of the nation.

DHS selected Manhattan, Kansas, as the site for the new NBAF after an extensive site-selection process that involved an environmental impact statement. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) raised concerns about DHS's analysis of the potential spread of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDv), one of the most serious foreign animal disease threats. Congress directed DHS to conduct a site-specific risk assessment (SSRA) for the NBAF, instructed the National Research Council (NRC) to independently evaluate the SSRA, and prohibited obligation of NBAF construction funds until the NRC review was complete.

Congress mandated that DHS revise its SSRA to address shortcomings of the 2010 SSRA, directed the NRC to evaluate the updated SSRA (uSSRA), and again prohibited obligation of construction funds until the completion of the second review. The scope for both of these SSRA reports addressed accidental release of pathogens from the NBAF in Manhattan, Kansas and excluded terrorist acts and malicious threats from its risk assessments. Evaluation of the Updated Site-Specific Risk Assessment for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas is the evaluation of the final uSSRA.

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