Jo Husbands, PhD (observer)
Dr. Jo Husbands is a Scholar and Senior Project Director with the Board of Life Sciences at The National Academy of Sciences (NAS), where she focuses on projects to foster increased engagement by the international scientific community in dual use issues . She is also an adjunct professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University and a Fellow of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
Kavita Berger, PhD
Dr. Kavita Berger is an Associate Program Director at the AAAS Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy. Her area of expertise is in biosecurity, global health, and public health preparedness and response. Current activities focus on building trust and relationships between disparate groups to address complex biosecurity, scientific, and public health issues.
David R. Franz, DVM, PhD
Dr. Franz is the Vice President & Chief Biological Scientist at the Midwest Research Institute, and the Senior Advisor to the Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs. He served in the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command for 23 of 27 years on active duty and retired as Colonel. He also served as Commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) and as Deputy Commander of the Medical Research and Materiel Command. Prior to joining the Command, he served as Group Veterinarian for the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne). He was Technical Editor for the Textbook of Military Medicine on Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare released in 1997, and serves on numerous national committees and boards.
Dr. Franz holds an adjunct appointment as Professor for the Department of Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University. The current focus of his activities relates to the role of international engagement in the life sciences as a component of national security policy. He holds a D.V.M. from Kansas State University and a Ph.D. in Physiology from Baylor College of Medicine.
Dan Hoke
Dan Hoke is a Program Manager at Foundry Interactive, where he assisted in the development of the Virtual Biosecurity Center website. Dan worked at Microsoft in the Exchange group from 2002 to 2005, he then spent 4 years at a Seattle software startup Teranode working with customers to deliver life science research solutions to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
Dan received his computer engineering degree from the University of Washington in 2002 after serving 6 years in the US Navy as a nuclear propulsion plant operator.
Piers Millet , PhD
Dr. Piers Millett is Deputy Head of the Implementation Support Unit for the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), housed in the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs in Geneva, Switzerland. He trained originally as a microbiologist and is still a Chartered Biologist with the Institute of Biology in the UK. He is widely published on issues related to preventing the acquisition and use of biological weapons and is a regular speaker at conferences around the world. His efforts have seen him collaborate with a range of other intergovernmental organisations, including the World Health Organisation, the World Organisation for Animal Health, the International Committee for the Red Cross, INTERPOL, the UN Institute for Disarmament Research and the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute.
Robert Wells
Robert Wells has more than twenty years experience in public policy, government relations, and international corporate development. His diverse career has given him expertise in business and policy issues associated with life sciences, health care, financial services and global markets. Robert joined the OECD in September 2009 to head the Biotechnology Unit in the Science and Technology Policy Division.
Robert Wells did his undergraduate work at the University of North Carolina / Chapel Hill. He also holds a JD degree from the Wake Forest University School of Law. He resides in London with his wife, Christine Petersen, and their daughter.
