2022 NEBSA Symposium Speaker Bios (in alphabetical order)

Jennifer Bosselman, MS, Senior Scientist at Environmental Health & Engineering (EH&E), brings over 20  years’ experience in environmental health and safety, biosafety, chemical safety, radiation safety and  risk assessment. She has direct experience in a range of life science settings from academic and clinical  laboratories to research and development and pharmaceutical. EH&E’s clients benefit from Jennifer’s  technical guidance and in-depth knowledge of how to implement programs that achieve greater  compliance and safety. Jennifer’s vast experience allows her to advise on which measures are most  effective based on the institution’s operations, needs and goals. 

LouAnn C. Burnett, MS, CBSP(ABSA) has been a member of the Global Chemical and Biological Security Program at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA for twelve years. She spent 17 years as a university biosafety program manager (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Vanderbilt University). LouAnn holds an M.S. in Biology and is a Certified Biological Safety Professional.  LouAnn served as President of ABSA in 2022 and in 2012 and received the ABSA's Everett Hanel, Jr. Presidential award in 2003. She has authored numerous papers on biosafety, biosecurity, biorisk management training, and biosafety program management. In 2012, LouAnn was selected as an Outstanding Women at Sandia and in 2018 was honored with a Sandia Employee Recognition Award for her work in mentoring trainers.

Karen Byers, MS, RBP (ABSA), CBSP (ABSA) is Biosafety Officer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.  Karen serves as co-editor in chief of Applied Biosafety.

Daniel Eisenman, PhD, RBP (ABSA), CBSP (ABSA) is Executive Director of Biosafety Services at Advarra where he runs the IBC program focused on review of multisite clinical trials across a network of over 1,000 research sites and institutions. He also participates in Advarra’s consulting program for institutions, drug manufacturers and research organizations.  Dan holds a PhD in molecular biology and immunology. He has various certifications in biosafety: RBP, SM(NRCM) and CBSP; as well as a regulatory affairs pharmaceuticals certificate from the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS).

Shawn G. Gibbs, PhD, MBA, CIH is Dean of the School of Public Health, Dean’s Chair and Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Texas A&M University. Dr Gibbs is an industrial hygienist with expertise in disruption of highly infectious diseases, such as COVID-19 and Ebola virus disease. His research has informed national policies, procedures, and best practices for safe care of patients with highly infectious diseases. He is affiliated with Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (P2R) Consortium (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, U45ES019360-11), National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center, and other organizations.

Jessica Healey MS, RBP (ABSA), CBSP (ABSA), SM (NRCM), is a Principal Consultant for Environmental Health &  Engineering’s Life Sciences practice. Jessica brings technical leadership in biosafety, hazardous materials  management, chemical safety and regulatory compliance to ensure laboratory safety in both research  and production environments. Jessica provides expert biosafety support for numerous Boston-area  research institutions and currently serves as the Biosafety Officer for several institutions including  Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Ragon Institute.  Jessica’s broad laboratory experience informs her holistic approach to the challenge of building a  meaningful safety culture in the lab, one that will supplement rather than impede research goals. She’s  recognized for her capacity to develop working strategies to solve issues in a variety of critical  environments, built within a framework of best practices and regulatory compliance. 

Eran Hodis, MD, PhD is a melanoma researcher, genome scientist, and oncologist-in-training. He studies melanoma and other cancers using a genetic lens -- reading and writing the genome to gain insight into fundamental questions in cancer. He is interested in the genetic changes that lead to cancer and how these changes produce distinct phenotypes of clinical relevance. Eran earned a B.A. in mathematics and biochemistry / molecular biology at Boston University, an M.Sc. in bioinformatics at the Weizmann Institute of Science with Dr. Eran Segal, a Ph.D. in biophysics at Harvard University with Drs. Levi Garraway and Aviv Regev, and an M.D. in the Health Sciences and Technology Program at Harvard Medical School and MIT. He completed residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and he is currently a Clinical Fellow in Hematology & Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Mass General Brigham.

Lisa Kercher, PhD, MPH, CBSP (ABSA) received her Ph.D. in molecular virology from Baylor College of Medicine.  She was a post doc at the NIH Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Montana, and following that was trained in their high containment spaces (BSL3 and BSL4) working in both laboratory and animal facilities.  She moved to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in 2011, and managed the ABSL-3+ laboratory working on highly pathogenic avian influenza for 7 years.  She is now the director of laboratory operations of the Influenza (and now COVID) group at St. Jude, and has focused a lot of time on improving and standardizing the inactivation protocols for laboratory staff.  She also works part-time at EHE as a biosafety consultant.

Aurora B. Le, PhD, MPH, CSP (ABSA), CPH is the John G. Searle Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Her research centers around occupational health and safety with a focus on occupational health inequity, industrial hygiene, psychosocial factors of work, and intersections among the aforementioned with health behaviors. She is affiliated with the Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (P2R) Consortium (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, U45ES019360-11) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s Intergovernmental Personnel Act for COVID-19 efforts.

Jessica McCormick-Ell, PhD, RBP (ABSA), CBSP (ABSA), has served as Director of the Division of Occupational Health and Safety (DOHS) at NIH since April 2020. As a senior advisor and subject matter expert to NIH leadership, Dr. McCormick-Ell oversees the Occupational Medical Service, Technical Assistance, Safety Operations and Support, Biorisk Management, and Community Health branches within the DOHS. She alsoserves as Program Director for the National Biosafety and Biocontainment Training Program. In her tenure at NIH, Dr. McCormick-Ell has received numerous awards for her role in leading the NIH COVID-19 response.  Dr. McCormick-Ell joined NIH from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, where she served as the University Biosafety Officer and Responsible Official. She is a microbiologist and biosafety professional with a Ph.D. in microbiology and molecular genetics from Rutgers University. Dr. McCormick-Ell has experience applying biosafety and biosecurity principles to all areas including emerging technologies in bioengineering and chemistry. She has hands-on experience in biomedical, environmental and clinical microbiology research and teaching laboratories and as an adjunct professor, translating her knowledge to the teaching environment. Dr. McCormick-Ell earned her Registered Biosafety Professional Certification from ABSA International in 2010, directly after her graduate work. In 2015, she passed the examination and became a specialist microbiologist with the National Certified Registry of Microbiologists through the American Society for Microbiology and shortly afterwards earned her credential as a Certified Biosafety Professional from ABSA International. In 2018, she was honored to receive the Everett Hanel Jr. Award from ABSA International. 

Sarimer Sánchez, MD MPH is Medical Director, Infectious Diseases Bureau, Boston Public Health Commission.