Five New Members Join National Biodefense Science Board
The board, which advises the HHS assistant secretary for preparedness and response and the HHS secretary, will hold a public meeting April 23.
Five new members have joined the National Biodefense Science Board (NBSB), which was created under the authority of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, signed into law in December 2006. The board advises HHS' assistant secretary for preparedness and response and the HHS secretary on preventing, preparing for, and responding to adverse health effects of public health emergencies.
The new members replace members whose terms will expire April 30, and they have joined in time to participate in an April 23 public meeting of the board. They are:
- Virginia Caine, M.D., director of the Marion County Public Health Department in Indianapolis; associate professor of medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, and board member of the National Medical Association
- Noreen Hynes, M.D., MPH, D.T.M.&H., associate professor of medicine and public health, and director of the Geographic Medicine Center of the Division of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore
- Catherine Slemp, M.D., MPH, public health consultant. She previously served as West Virginia's state health officer with the Bureau for Public Health.
- Tammy Spain, Ph.D., senior member of the technical staff at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Bioengineering Center at the University of South Florida
- David Weinstock, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, associate physician at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital, and affiliated faculty at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Boston
In addition, David Ecker, Ph.D., divisional vice president and a general manager at Ibis Biosciences, Inc., an Abbott company located in Carlsbad, Calif., is remaining on the board. He is serving his first term as a voting member on the NBSB and has been chosen to be reappointed for an additional three-year term, according to the HHS announcement.
"NBSB members are vital to our operations here in HHS. They bring a wealth of knowledge, expertise, and experience. Over the past six years, the board has helped us improve federal policies and practices in disaster preparedness and response," said Assistant Secretary Dr. Nicole Lurie, M.D. "I look forward to working with the new members in helping to build more resilient communities across the nation."
The board has 13 voting members who have expertise in science, medicine, and public health. There also are voting and non-voting members from federal and state government agencies.
The April 23 meeting will take place via teleconference and webinar from 3-4 p.m. EDT. It will be dedicated to the board's deliberation and vote on the findings from the Community Health Resilience Working Group.