Attendees

Charles Benjamin (Ben) Beard is the Deputy Director of CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne Diseases. He also serves as co-chair of CDC’s Climate and Health Taskforce and is CDC’s representative to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Tick-Borne Disease Working Group. He has served outside CDC on numerous working groups and advisory panels for the World Health Organization, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, and the American Meteorological Society. He served as an editor and lead author for the USGCRP Climate Change and Human Health Group 2016 report, The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment, and he is an author currently on the Human Health Chapter of the USGCRP Fifth National Climate Assessment. He is an Associate Editor for Emerging Infectious Diseases and past president of the Society for Vector Ecology. During his tenure at CDC, his work has focused on the ecology, prevention, and control of vector-borne zoonotic diseases, both in domestic and global arenas, including serving as Deputy Incident Manager for CDC’s Zika Virus Outbreak Response. He has published over 140 scientific papers, books, and book chapters collectively.

Monica has been interested in the emergence of viral pathogens since first studying viral evolution in the late 1990s, a pivotal time in virology that saw the emergence of deadly viruses such as Sin Nombre hantavirus in the U.S., Nipah virus in Malaysia, and H5N1 avian influenza virus in Hong Kong. In the decades since then, sequencing technology has changed drastically and interpretation of the massive sets of data generated by next generation sequencing platforms requires close interaction between virologists and bioinformaticists to understand the patterns of evolution buried in the millions of sequencing reads. She has enjoyed being part of multidisciplinary teams studying the mechanisms used by different viral families during cross-species transmission. In particular, she is interested in developing methods that provide deep insight into how viruses emerge and evolve, with the ultimate goal of combining biological research with computer modeling to enable predictive biology. Monica is also interested in developing new methods for biosurveillance and forensic studies.

Dr. Catherine (Cathy) Branda is a Senior Manager at Sandia National Laboratories. She currently leads the Radiation Signatures and Detection S&T group (2021-), having led the Applied Bioscience & Engineering group since 2016, both within Sandia’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Defense and Energy Technologies Center. Cathy also serves as the Sandia program manager for Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and DoD’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Chemical and Biological R&D (DTRA-RDCB). Cathy has been at Sandia over seventeen years; in addition to her management roles, she has held a variety of positions including Technical Staff, Systems Biology Department Manager, Reducing Global Biological and Chemical Mission Area Lead, and Chair of the Sandia Women’s Connection. She received a B.A. in Cognitive Science from Vassar College, and an M. Phil. and Ph.D. in Genetics from Yale University School of Medicine. She also completed a Cytogenetics Clinical Fellowship in Cytogenetics at Harvard Medical School before joining Sandia in 2005.

James (Ben) Brown, PhD, develops novel machine algorithms for the biological and environmental sciences. At Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory he leads the development of new machine-learning methods for scientific applications (https://ml4sci.lbl.gov). His group develops "third-wave" learning algorithms that combine the interpretability and reliability of classical statistics with the predictive performance of deep learning.

Jeanne Fair is a scientist in Biosecurity & Public Health Group with a focus in epidemiology and animal disease ecology. From 2013-2016 she was on assignment as a Science Program Manager with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Biological Threat Reduction Program working with Central Asia and the Middle East. Dr. Fair’s research interest of 30 years, is to support epidemiology modeling and zoonotic infectious disease detection capabilities in wildlife, animals, and humans.

Dr. Andrew Glen currently serves as the manager of the Atmospheric Science department at Sandia National Laboratories. He also serves as the Sandia manager for the DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) guest facilities at the North Slope of Alaska (NSA) and Tethered Balloon System (TBS). Prior to this role, Andrew was a Principal Member of Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories where he worked in the field of aerosol science. He holds a PhD and MSc in Atmospheric Science from Texas A&M University and University of Wyoming, respectively, and a BSc in Meteorology from the University of Reading, UK. Andrew’s technical background and expertise was focused on experimental and measurement techniques for aerosol and clouds with both laboratory and field components include multi-platform measurements including stratospheric balloons, aircraft and ground based measurements. Andrew has conducted experimental field work in the Arctic, Antarctic and various locations in North America and Canada. His research spans applications across atmospheric, biological and radiological aerosol areas. Prior to joining the team at Sandia, Andrew gained 7 years of experience as an environmental consultant specializing in aerosol and gaseous source and emission factor characterization, ambient monitoring and air dispersion modeling.

Diana is the Climate Program Communications Specialist for Sandia National Laboratories. She previously worked as a science writer/editor for North Carolina Sea Grant and as the communications manager for the Triangle Land Conservancy. Diana is also a doctoral candidate in natural resources at the University of Vermont. Her research focuses on the relationship between how we frame environmental issues in communication and environmental action.

Brooke Harmon is a Manager of the Biotechnology and Bioengineering Department, which is part of Sandia’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense (CBRND) and Energy Technologies Center. The department focuses on both basic and applied biological and bioengineering research with broad applications in national security, biodefense, health security, climate, and energy security. Research in virology, microbiology, immunology and bioinformatics, is addressed by advanced technology development including antibody engineering, advanced omics, synthetic biology, and advanced materials and nanotechnology. Brooke is also the Program Deputy for the CBRND program. Brooke has more than 16 years of experience in drug discovery, virology, cell biology, and immunology. As a member of the technical staff at Sandia, she led multiple research teams focused on development of a target-based drug discovery pipeline for chemical, peptide, or antibody-based inhibitors of emerging viruses and other evolving biodefense targets. In 2022, Brooke transitioned to her current role as the manager of a highly matrixed multidisciplinary organization with a mix of computational and experimental/engineering scientists, with research sponsored by DOE, DoD, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and House Homeland Security (HHS). Brooke has a bachelor’s degree in microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics from University of California, Los Angeles, and a PhD in biology and biomedical sciences from Washington University in St. Louis. She has published several peer-reviewed manuscripts on cell signaling pathways, screening technologies, next-generation antibody therapeutics, and virus-host interactions.

Dan focuses on understanding the complex sets of interactions of molecules of all types (across all omics layers) in cells that lead to phenotypes, traits and disease states in organisms and how all of that is conditional on the surrounding environment. His research team applies these approaches to grand challenges in bioenergy, sustainable agriculture, ecosystems and human health (and the intersections among those areas, i.e., One Health). The past several years, his lab has been doing a range of research to address the COVID-19 pandemic, including studies of the molecular evolution and pathogenic elements of coronaviruses, molecular mechanisms for human pathogenesis (and identification of potential new therapies), clinical predictors of disease severity, environmental variables that affect COVID-19 disease outcomes and the prediction and prevention of future zoonotic spillovers/pandemics. For this work Dan was awarded the 2021 Secretary of Energy Achievement Award and the 2020 HPCwire Top HPC-enabled Science Award. His team was the first group to break the Exascale barrier; they have continued to push the boundaries of computational science and at present, the latest 9.4 Exaops calculation is the fastest scientific calculation ever done anywhere in the world. Their first Exascale project led to this team being awarded the 2018 Gordon Bell Prize (the first ever for Systems Biology). His lab focuses on the development and subsequent application of mathematical, statistical and computational methods to biological datasets in order to yield new insights into complex biological systems. Approaches used by his lab include the use of Network Theory and Topology Discovery/Clustering, Wavelet Theory, AI, and explainable-AI, together with traditional and more advanced supercomputing architectures.

John is a Supervisory Research Ecologist with EPA’s Office of Research and Development in Athens, Georgia. His research focus is on water quality monitoring and modeling to forecast ecosystem services and their influence on human health, including spatio-temporal modeling of vector-borne disease. John’s interests include life cycle impact assessment, remote sensing, spatial modeling, and sustainability analysis. Current projects include forecasting lake cyanobacterial bloom probability and urban storm water management.

Hsiang-He’s research interests include boundary layer meteorology, atmospheric aerosols and clouds, regional air quality, and the roles of aerosol-cloud interaction in atmospheric chemistry, precipitation, and climate dynamics. Hsiang-He has been involved to develop and utilize aerosol physics and chemistry model to couple with a global climate system model and a regional air quality model to study the impacts of anthropogenic pollutions on global and regional climate. The current research project is to work in the area of atmospheric general circulation model development with the goal of improving the representation of clouds by implementing a novel adaptive vertical grid enhancement technique.

Dona Love is a program officer at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and manages research grants and contracts focused on medical mycology. This portfolio encompasses the genetics, genomics, biochemistry, host-pathogen interactions and preclinical animal studies of the major human fungal pathogens. Before joining the NIAID, she served as a scientific review officer at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Love received her Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from Temple University School of Medicine and conducted research in glycobiology and genetics at NIH’s National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Dr. Love’s research has covered a variety of topics including host-pathogen interactions, nutrient sensing, and chromatin remodeling.

Dr. Catherine (Katie) Mageeney is a Senior Member of Technical Staff in the Biotechnology and Bioengineering Department at Sandia Labs California site. Dr. Mageeney’s research focuses on using bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) as tools to combat antibiotic resistant pathogens, deliver genetic cargo to bacterial species, and modulate microbiomes. She is both has experience in both experimental and computational biology to address her research questions. She received her B.S. in biology from Cabrini University and her Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Lehigh University.

Robert Meagher is a Principal Member of Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories. He is a chemical engineer by training. His main research interest is detection and diagnostics for emerging infectious diseases, focusing primarily on novel detection methods such as microfluidics, and improving chemistry for molecular diagnostics.

Dr. Traci Pals is the Vaccine Team Lead for the Vaccines and Therapeutics Division (CBM) of the Chemical and Biological Technologies Department in the Joint Science and Technologies Office located within the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). She leads the CBM Division’s vaccine and pretreatment team, directing research and discovery efforts on prophylactic medical countermeasure development to protect against biological threats. Dr. Pals is responsible for overseeing the execution of the vaccine team budget and prioritizing efforts to address viral, bacterial and toxin medical countermeasure development efforts for traditional biothreats as well as expanding the portfolio to address emerging threats through broad spectrum strategies utilizing innovative technologies. Prior to joining DTRA, Dr. Pals was at the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate, Chemical and Biological Defense Office, serving as both the Branch Chief of the Threat Characterization and Attribution Branch as well as the Program Manager for the Biological Forensics Research Program. She has also served as a contractor subject matter expert for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and as Research Faculty in the Department of Biochemistry, Georgetown University Medical Center. Dr. Pals holds a BS in Zoology from Texas A&M University, a MS in Molecular Physiology from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio and a Ph.D. in Marine Biology and Ecology from University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

Jazmine Price is a Technical Business Development Specialist at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM. She supports Sandia’s Homeland Security Programs in a variety of ways including the planning and execution of events and workshops, and strategic engagements. In 2013, she received her B.A. in Mass Journalism and Communication from the University of New Mexico and completed her Executive Master of Business Administration at UNM’s Anderson School of Management in August 2021.

Dr. Sievert leads the strategic direction, coordination, and investments of CDC’s cross-cutting scientific antibiotic resistance (AR) activities. Her work supports national goals outlined in the U.S. National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria and ensures that AR projects and collaborations across the agency are appropriate and consistent with CDC scientific vision and priorities. As part of this role, Dr. Sievert provides the scientific leadership for CDC’s Antibiotic Resistance Laboratory Network and the CDC and FDA Antibiotic Resistance Isolate Bank. She is also Lead of the CDC Collaborating Center within the World Health Organization’s Antimicrobial Resistance Network.

Dr. Sievert previously served as the Associate Director for AR in CDC’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases and as the Deputy Chief of Surveillance Branch in CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, where she provided scientific leadership for CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network.

Prior to CDC, Dr. Sievert held roles as the chief scientist within a consulting company focused on new models of electronic automation and health information exchange in medicine and public health; quality improvement and infection control coordinator within a major healthcare system; AR program lead at Michigan’s state health department; and laboratory scientist focused on Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis research. Dr. Sievert received her PhD in Infectious Disease Epidemiology and BS in Microbiology from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and MS in Epidemiology from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Dr. Smallwood is a Senior Member of Technical Staff in the Molecular and Microbiology Department at Sandia Labs at the Albuquerque New Mexico site. Dr. Smallwood’s research has focused on a number of climate-risk related projects from accessing climate impacts to microbiomes in Arctic permafrost to measuring viral flux within dynamic microbiomes within and across microbiomes. His work also focuses on carbon capture using green algae and other bioenergy plant crops. His bioresearch also considers measuring and manipulation of viruses and phage (viruses of bacteria) to determine biorisk to ecosystem health and impacts to nutrient cycling.