RONALD M. ATLAS, MS, PHD
Ronald M. Atlas is Graduate Dean, Professor of Biology, and Co-director of the Center for the Deterrence of Biowarfare and Bioterrorism at the University of Louisville. He has his BS degree from the State University at Stony Brook and his MS and PhD degrees from Rutgers University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory where he worked on Mars Life Detection. He is a member of the DHS Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee, NASA's Planetary Protection Board and the FBI Scientific Working Group on Microbial Genetics and Forensics. He previously served as President of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), co-chaired the ASM Task Force on Biological Weapons, and was a member of the NIH Recombinant Advisory committee. His early research focused on oil spills and he discovered bioremediation as part of his doctoral studies. Later he turned to the molecular detection of pathogens in the environment which forms the basis for biosensors to detect biothreat agents. He is author of nearly 300 manuscripts and 20 books. He is a fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology and has received the ASM Award for Applied and Environmental Microbiology, the ASM Founders Award, and the Edmund Youde Lectureship Award in Hong Kong. He regularly advises the US government on policy issues related to the deterrence of bioterrorism.


RUTH M. CARRICO, PHD, RN, CIC
Ruth M. Carrico is an Assistant Professor with the University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences. Dr. Carrico also provides consultative services for the Infection Control and Epidemiology Department at the University of Louisville Hospital. In addition, Ruth has an appointment as Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. With more than twenty-five years in healthcare, Dr. Carrico has focused her practice toward issues dealing with infectious diseases in the hospital and public health sectors. She has received training specific for hospital epidemiology and public health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta.

Dr. Carrico is a native of Louisville, Kentucky where she received her nursing education at Norton Memorial Infirmary School of Nursing and Bellarmine University. In 1990, Dr. Carrico received her MA in Health Services Management from Webster University St. Louis, Missouri and completed her doctoral work in Management in 2000. Dr. Carrico has authored or co-authored over 25 peer reviewed manuscripts as well as abstracts, posters, e-learning modules, two book chapters, and five books. Dr. Carrico served as the editor for the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (APIC) 2005 Text of Infection Control and Epidemiology, the primary textbook for infection control practitioners in the United States, Canada, and Asia. Ruth currently serves as the Co-Chair of the APIC Emergency Preparedness Committee. In addition, Dr. Carrico serves on the editorial board for the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC) and a reviewer for Home Health Nurse.

Dr. Carrico has spoken to both national and international audiences on a variety of topics regarding hospital-based performance improvement and preparedness strategies and continues to provide consultative services for a variety of hospitals, healthcare facilities, and healthcare personnel groups on issues relevant to infection prevention and control. At present, Dr. Carrico provides emergency preparedness training funded by Health Resources and Services Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cooperative agreements.


DORAN M. CHRISTENSEN, DO, MPH
Dr. Doran Christensen is a staff physician with the Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS) at the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE). REAC/TS is a 24-hour emergency medical response program at ORISE that consults and assists in response to all types of radiation accidents or incidents. A specially trained team of physicians, nurses, health physicists, radiation biologists, and emergency coordinators is prepared around the clock to provide assistance on the local, national, or international level.

Prior to his arrival in Oak Ridge, Christensen spent 12 years as medical director of the Fernald Environmental Management Project, which is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) effort to clean up and restore the Fernald uranium processing site in southwest Ohio. Since 1982 Christensen has also served as medical director of The Consortium for Environmental & Occupational Safety & Health, an emergency and occupational health consulting firm in Aurora, Indiana.

Christensen earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa and his Doctor of Osteopathy degree from the College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery in Des Moines, Iowa. Christensen has extensive military experience having served in the U.S. Army Medical Service, the U.S. Navy Medical Service Corps and the U.S. Air Force Reserve Medical Corps, including active duty in both Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm.


RICHARD D. CLOVER, MD
Richard D. Clover, M.D. is Dean for the School of Public Health/Health Information Sciences and Co-Director for the Center for the Deterrence of Biowarfare and Bioterrorism at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, where he also is Associate Vice President for Health Affairs/Health Informatics. Dr. Clover received his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine.

Dr. Clover's contributions to the medical literature include articles on adult immunizations, vaccine preventable diseases, health promotion and disease prevention, and health informatics. His articles have appeared in such professional journals as American Family Physicians, Journal of the American Board of Family Practice, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, American Journal of Public Health and Journal of Infectious Diseases.

He is a member of the American Board of Family Medicine, American Academy of Family Physicians Commission on Clinical Policies and Research and the American Academy of Family Physicians liaison member to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


MICHAEL R. DOBBS, MD
Michael R. Dobbs, M.D., is Assistant Professor of Neurology and Residency Program Director in the Dept. of Neurology at the University of Kentucky College Of Medicine. He was formerly an Assistant Professor of Neurology and Vascular Neurologist at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. He received his M.D. degree from the University of Kentucky where he also completed his residency in neurology. Dr. Dobbs has specialty board certification in neurology. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 2002-2005, and was Chief of Neurological research at Wilford Hall Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He has extensive military training in recognition and management of chemical and biological warfare agent casualties.

Dr. Dobbs' research interests include cerebrovascular disease and neurotoxicology. Dr. Dobbs has published and edited several scientific articles, books and book chapters, and is a member of numerous professional and scientific organizations.


STANLEY A. GALL, MD
Dr. Gall is Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health and Professor of Public Health and Information Sciences at the University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Gall graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine and completed an internship at the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center. This was followed by a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Gall became an obligated volunteer to the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War and was stationed at Fr. Belvoir, VA. Dr. Gall's first academic position was at the University of Miami and during that period Dr. Gall completed a fellowship in Immunology and course work towards his PhD. His next academic position was at Duke University where he became a Professor and Director of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine. After 12 years at Duke, Dr. Gall moved to the University of Illinois in Chicago where he served as Director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Acting Head. In 1989, Dr. Gall accepted the position of Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Louisville until he stepped down in June 2000.

Dr. Gall's research efforts have centered on Immunology and Infectious Disease in Obstetrics and Gynecology. In the last 8 years the emphasis has moved toward clinical vaccine research.

Dr. Gall has been ACOG's liaison member to ACIP since 1995. He is currently active with ongoing vaccine clinical trials with HSV II vaccine (Herpevac) and HPV trials. Dr. Gall has been involved with HPV trials since 2000. Dr. Gall's special interest is in maternal immunization with the concept of protecting mothers from vaccine preventable diseases and protecting the neonate with passively acquired antibodies for the first 3 to 6 months of life.


GERALD A. GRANT, MD
Gerald A. Grant, MD, is the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Surgical Director at the United States Air Force Epilepsy Center, Wilford Hall Medical Center located at the Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. Dr. Grant is also a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, TX. He received his M.D. degree from Stanford University School of Medicine and he completed his residency in neurological surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Dr. Grant was deployed to Balad Air Force Base in Iraq from August 2005 until February 2006. Dr. Grant is involved in multiple research projects for example; he is the principal investigator of researching "Operation Iraqi Freedom-Blast Concussive Injuries." Dr. Grant has published several scientific articles, books and book chapters, and is a member of numerous professional and scientific organizations.


MICHAEL GREGER, MD
Dr. Greger is the Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at The Humane Society of the United States. An internationally recognized lecturer, he has presented at the Conference on World Affairs, the National Institutes of Health, and the International Bird Flu Summit, among countless other symposia and institutions, and was invited as an expert witness in defense of Oprah Winfrey at the infamous "meat defamation" trial.

Dr. Greger is a graduate of the Cornell University School of Agriculture and the Tufts University School of Medicine. His other books include Carbophobia.

Dr. Greger has written a book Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching. The entire book can be downloaded for free at http://birdflubook.com. All of the proceeds Dr. Greger receives from his books and speaking engagements are donated to charity.


WILLIAM D. HACKER, MD, FAAP, CPE
William D. Hacker, a native of Manchester (Clay County), Kentucky received a Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Medicine degrees from the University of Kentucky. Following a three-year residency in pediatrics at the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center he founded, in 1975, Corbin Pediatric Associates in Corbin, Kentucky.

Dr. Hacker continued in private practice in Corbin until 1993 when he accepted the position of Vice President for Health Services at Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH) and moved to the corporate headquarters in Lexington. He left ARH in 1999 to serve as the Medical Director of Kentucky Health Select (a managed Medicaid program) within the CHA Health organization.

In 2001 Dr. Hacker joined the Kentucky Department for Public Health as a physician consultant in the Division of Adult and Child Health. Following the terrorism events in the fall of 2001 Dr. Hacker transferred to the Division of Epidemiology as Branch Manager of the newly formed Public Health Preparedness Branch. In September 2003 he was also appointed as the Acting Director of the Division of Laboratory Services and served in that capacity until April 1, 2005.

He was appointed Acting Commissioner of the Department for Public Health July 1, 2004. Following a national search, Governor Ernie Fletcher appointed Dr. Hacker Commissioner of the Department for Public Health November 30, 2004.

Dr. Hacker is Board Certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and is a Fellow in the American Academy of Pediatrics. He is also a Certified Physician Executive (CPE) and is a member of the American College of Physician Executives. He holds an appointment at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine as an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Associate Clinical Professor in the University of Kentucky College of Public Health.


W. PAUL MCKINNEY, MD
W. Paul McKinney, MD, is the Associate Dean for Public Health and Acting Chairman of the Department of Epidemilogy and Clinical Investigation Sciences in the UofL School of Public Health and Information Sciences and Professor, Department of Medicine, in the UofL School of Medicine. His areas of interest include epidemiology, with a particular focus in infectious diseases, emporiatrics, and immunizations, as well as bioterrorism preparedness and response. Dr. McKinney currently serves as liaison member of the Centers for Disease Control's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices and co directs the university's International Travel Medicine Clinic. He is a Board Member of the Association for Clinical Research Training Program (NIH K30) Directors and serves as Editor in Chief of its national newsletter, Clinical Research Perspective.

In 1999, Dr. McKinney served as a U.S. Public Health Service Primary Care Policy Fellow in Washington, DC. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, the American Public Health Association, the Society of General Internal Medicine, the Central Society for Clinical Research, and the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation.


NICHOLAS MOSCA, DDS
Dr. Nicholas Mosca is the Dental Director at the Mississippi Department of Health and Clinical Professor in the Department of Pediatric and Public Health Dentistry at the University of Mississippi School of Dentistry. Dr. Mosca received his DDS from Loyola University School of Dentistry in Maywood, Illinois and his undergraduate degree from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2005, he received his Primary Health Care Policy Fellowship from the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, DC.

Dr. Mosca's honors and awards include the Surgeon General David Satcher Keynote Lecture Award, U. S. Public Health Service, Commission Corp Professional Conference in Denver, Colorado and the President's Award, American Association of Public Health Dentistry, National Oral Health Conference, Little Rock, Arkansas. Earlier this year, Dr. Mosca had the opportunity to testify before Congress at a special oral health hearing.

Dr. Mosca presently serves on the Executive Board of the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors.


WILLIAM A. YASNOFF, MD, PhD, FACMI
Dr. Yasnoff currently serves as Senior Advisor, National Health Information Infrastructure (NHII), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Beginning in late 2002, he initiated, organized, and developed the HHS activities directed at promoting and encouraging the NHII, which led to an additional $50 million in the President's FY05 budget request and the recent Presidential creation of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, establishing the NHII as a widely recognized goal for the nation.

Dr. Yasnoff organized the NHII 2003 Conference that developed a consensus national action agenda and hosted HHS Secretary Thompson's announcement of the historic Federal government license agreement for the comprehensive standard medical vocabulary SNOMED. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Biomedical Informatics, and is the primary author of the chapter on public health informatics and health information infrastructure in the upcoming 3rd edition of the textbook Biomedical Informatics: Computer Applications in Healthcare and Medicine. Dr. Yasnoff is also Adjunct Professor of Health Sciences Informatics at Johns Hopkins, and served as a Board Member of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) in 2003-4.

Previously, Dr. Yasnoff was Associate Director for Science, Public Health Practice Program Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where he became well known for his work in public health informatics, including co-editing the textbook Public Health Informatics and Information Systems, and serving as Program Chair of the AMIA 2001 Spring meeting, "Developing a National Agenda for Public Health Informatics." He came to CDC from the Oregon Health Division, where he developed and deployed both a statewide immunization registry (still operating successfully today) and an electronic information network for public health officials.

Prior to his government service, Dr. Yasnoff spent many years in the private sector, including entrepreneurial businesses, initially as Vice President of Research for Cell Analysis Systems, Inc., where he developed the first PC-based commercial system for quantifying DNA content of cells on slides in 1986, and then started his own company that developed image analysis solutions such as quantifying brain blood flow defects in SPECT scans. He later served as Medical Director of AMA/Net, the American Medical Association's first online electronic information system for physicians, developing and implementing the marketing plan that expanded the subscriber base tenfold to 40,000 in 60 days. He subsequently restarted the network as U.S. HealthLink, a public-private partnership in Oregon. He also did consulting work for a variety of commercial, academic, and government clients, addressing a wide range of health informatics challenges, including reviewing and evaluating high-tech business plans and participating in site visits for Columbine Venture Partners.

He received both his Ph.D. in computer science (pattern recognition and image analysis) and M.D. from Northwestern University, and completed an internal medicine internship at Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center in 1980. Dr. Yasnoff has been a faculty member for numerous informatics courses, is the author of over 200 scientific publications and presentations, and has been a Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics since 1989.

MATTHEW ZAHN, MD
Matthew Zahn, MD, is the Medical Director at the Louisville Metro Health Department in Louisville, KY where he also is an Assistant Professor at the Division of Infectious Disease in the Department of Pediatrics at Kosair Children's Hospital. Dr. Zahn received his degree from St. Louis University School of Medicine. Prior to coming to Louisville he completed a fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at The Children's Hospital of Denver and was an emergency department physician at St. Mary's Hospital in East St. Louis, IL.

Dr. Zahn's contributions to the medical literature include articles on rotavirus infection, host cell lipids control, intracellular parasite, and lipid bodies and triacylglycerols. His articles have appeared in such professional journals as Pediatric Annals, Cell Microbiology, Journal of Biological Chemistry, and Molecular Biochemical Parasitology. He is a member of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society of America. Dr. Zahn has given lectures on pyogenic liver abscess, botulism, influenza vaccine shortage, meningocuccus, pertussis, and avian influenza and the coming pandemic.