2025 NEBSA Symposium Speaker Bios (in alphabetical order) 

Phil Arnold - Phil is Vice President of Engineering at SafeTraces Inc, a leading biotechnology company focused on predicting, detecting, and preventing pathogen exposures in indoor environments. He has deep experience in multidisciplinary, distributed technology development and management. He previously held executive positions at Endless and Finesse Solutions and launched several award-winning technology products. Phil holds a MBA from Golden Gate University and a BS in Materials Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is a member of the ASHRAE Standard Committee 241 (Control of Infectious Aerosols), CETA CAG-016 (Testing of Hospital Operating Rooms), and AIHA Indoor Air Quality Task Force.

Todd Brown

Karen Byers, MS, RBP, CBSP, Director of Biosafety, Dana Farber Cancer Institute - Karen is a past-president of ABSA, co-editor of Applied Biosafety, and a founding member of the ABSA LAI Database. She developed a keen interest in biosafety and occupational health while doing benchwork in bacteriology, immunology, and virology. In 1989, Karen became the Dana Farber Cancer Institute Biosafety Officer and managed the Center for Aids Research Core Laboratory 1989-2002. In addition to sharing information in Applied Biosafety, Karen co-authored the chapter on laboratory acquired infections in the 3rd through 6th editions of the American Society of Microbiology text Biological Safety, Principles and Practices, co-edited the 5th edition, and is currently working on co-editing the 6th. Karen also collaborated on two Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine articles that evolved from the Eagleson Colloquium on managing the risks of exposure to lentiviral and retroviral vectors.

Julien Farland, SM, RBP, CBSP, SM(NRCM), Director of Environmental Hazards, Boston Public Health Commission - Julien is a long-time member of NEBSA and in his role of Director of Biological Safety for the Boston Public Health Commission (2011-2017) he became very familiar with the NEBSA membership, their institutions and biosafety programs. In his current role as Director of Environmental Hazards, he continues to have an active role in the BPHC Biological Safety Program and participate in NEBSA events. Julien has a Master of Science degree from Harvard School of Public Health and is a Certified Biological Safety Professional and a Registered Biosafety Professional.  Julien has been a member of the Boston area biosafety community for most of the last 20 years while working at Harvard University, Whitehead Institute, Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, and Boston Public Health Commission. He has specific experience regulating laboratories working with recombinant and synthetic nucleic acids, as well as those involving high (BSL-3) and maximum (BSL-4) containment work, in the city of Boston. This includes permitting, inspection, investigating laboratory incidents, and regular review of IBC minutes, laboratory plans, and policies.

David Fortino  -  As Head of Corporate Security at New York Blood Center Enterprises, David leads the physical security risk management program across cell therapy centers, laboratories, and research facilities. With over 20 years of experience spanning emergency services, federal disaster response, and corporate security leadership, David brings a rare blend of operational know-how and strategic vision. His career includes senior roles at FEMA, Pratt & Whitney, and Circle (fintech), where he built and scaled programs focused on physical security, crisis response, and operational resilience. 

Don Girouard - Donald is the Associate Director of RBL Operations at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. Don has been at Tufts for 24 years. He started off overseeing individual labs and equipment at the early stages of his employment and was extensively involved in the construction of the Regional Biosafety Laboratory which he now helps run. He oversees decontamination of the facility and individual rooms, takes care of all the equipment, and schedules and assists in the yearly recertification of the RBL and a smaller BSL3 lab on a different part of the campus. He has been expanding his role by learning more on the Facilities side of operation along with his knowledge of the Building Automation System. Don has a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Biology and Marine Biology.

Kathryn Harris, PhD, RBP, Senior Outreach & Education Specialist, NIH Office of Science Policy - Dr. Harris is a Registered Biosafety Professional with over 25 years of experience in academia and government. She is a national expert on biosafety and biosecurity. In her current role at NIH she develops regional and national programs of stakeholder relations, education, and outreach related to the oversight and safe conduct of research involving recombinant and synthetic nucleic acid molecules, as well as issues related to the oversight of emerging biotechnologies and dual use life sciences research. She also advises on biosafety and biosecurity policy. Dr. Harris was the 2019 recipient of the ABSA International Arnold G. Wedum Distinguished Achievement Award. The award is given to an active ABSA member, or emeritus, for outstanding contributions to biological safety accomplished through teaching, research, service, or leadership. She has extensive knowledge of biosafety guidelines and regulations pertaining to basic science and clinical research. She teaches workshops on Institutional Biosafety Committees (IBCs), and effective governance and oversight of life sciences research. She spent several years as a Biological Safety Officer for a major research university and has conducted IBC program evaluations as a contractor for the National Institutes of Health Office of Science Policy. Dr. Harris was a founding member and the first president of the Midwest Biosafety Network (MABioN).

Erika Joloya - Erika is a Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Lisa Wagar’s lab at University of California, Irvine, where the lab studies human adaptive immune responses in efforts to improve and accelerate vaccine design and immunotherapies. Her research interests in the Wagar lab include differential host responses to vaccines and respiratory viruses, with a focus on how early life exposures to influenza antigens shape the immune repertoire over time.

Benjamin Kleinstiver,PhD - Dr. Kleinstiver is an Associate Professor in the Center for Genomic Medicine and Department of Pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and is the Kayden-Lambert MGH Research Scholar. He is a biochemist by training and now runs a research lab focused on genome editing technology development, seeking to optimize new methods to modify genetic sequences. Some of the major goals in the Kleinstiver lab are to develop safe, effective, and versatile tools that can correct genetic mutations that underlie human disease, while solving challenges that can expand access of gene editing treatments to a wider base of patients. 

Mike McCarthy, RBP (ABSA), CHMM, Environmental Health Safety and Sustainability Senior Manager, Biological Safety Officer, Vertex Pharmaceuticals - Mike has worked in the Environmental Health and Safety field for 20 years and currently holds a position at Vertex Pharmaceuticals as the Biological Safety Officer in Boston, MA.  In this role, Mike manages all aspects of the biosafety program including being the IBC chair and voting member of the IACUC.  Mike is an active member of ABSA, the Pharmaceutical Biosafety Group, and has served on the Scientific Planning Committee for ABSA for the past five years.  Mike is the President-Elect of NEBSA.

Ted Myatt, ScD, Associate Vice President for Research Integrity, Tufts University - Prior to moving to Tufts, Ted was at the  University of Rhode Island , where he led the Office of Sponsored Projects, the Office of Research Integrity, and the Comparative Biology Resource Center.  Before joining URI, Ted led the life science practice for the consulting firm, Environmental Health and Engineering, Inc. (EH&E). Ted also serves as an IBC member at several local academic institutions. He received a Bachelor’s of Science in microbiology at the University of Illinois, a Master’s of Environmental Management at Duke University, and a Doctorate of Science at the Harvard School of Public Health.  Ted has served as NEBSA President since 2020.

Amy Razukiewicz, RBP (ABSA), Associate Director, EHS & Biosafety Officer, Broad Institute - Amy has more than 15 years of experience in Biosafety and all facets of EHS.  Most experience comes from New York Medical College where Amy moved into positions of expanding responsibility and most recently served as Director, EHS.  In this role Amy served as Biosafety officer, Select Agent Responsible Official, Radiation Safety Officer, and Dental Clinical Compliance/Infection Prevention Officer for Touro College of Dental Medicine. 

Kian Sani

Ryan Schlimgen, PhD

Mary Sabolefski, Environmental Health & Safety Lead, New England Biolabs - After 6 years working at the bench in support of environmental microbiology studies at the Harvard University School of Public Health in Dr. H. Burge’s lab, Mary has worked for 15 years as a biosafety and laboratory safety professional in the pharmaceutical industry.  Mary has had responsibility for biosafety programs focused on use of human derived materials and recombinant DNA technologies to discover new therapies to treat human disease, overseeing facility Institutional Biosafety Committees and serving as a member on facility IACUC committees.  Mary’s experience includes oversight of biosafety programming for operations in Europe and Asia, in both laboratory and manufacturing settings. Prior to her first term as a NEBSA counselor, Mary served as NEBSA treasurer for 6 years. As Councilor, Mary continues to work to ensure high quality content at the annual NEBSA seminar, and identify and promote new ideas to benefit and strengthen the NEBSA community. 

Michael Sellitto, MS, CIH, Staff Consultant, Environmental Health & Engineering - Michael has more than a decade of experience in industrial hygiene. He has broad-based experience in manufacturing, education, healthcare, and life sciences settings and is experienced in exposure assessments, exposure modeling, and indoor air quality. Michael helps EH&E’s clients navigate occupational and environmental issues. Michael graduated from Emmanuel College with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and from Tufts University with a Master of Science in civil and environmental engineering with a focus on environmental epidemiology.

Tim Shukri - Tim is the General Manager of Cornerstone Commissioning LLC which is part of the Technical Safety Services Family of Companies. Cornerstone is a Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing commissioning provider focused on serving the Life Science and Biocontainment Industries. Tim has been with Cornerstone for 14 years and has been involved in dozens of life science facilities ranging from ground up multi-level lab builds to single lab renovations. He has led the commissioning process for many BSL-3 labs from design through turnover as well as the performed dozens of annual performance verifications in BSL-3 labs across the country. His passion is to enable owners, lab managers and lab users to have confidence their lab facilities are operating according to their needs. He holds both Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering and a Professional Engineer’s license in Massachusetts.

Gregg M. Stave, MD, JD, MPH - Dr. Stave is a consultant and Medical Professor in the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Duke University. He spent 15 years as a corporate medical director for GlaxoSmithKline. Dr. Stave received his undergraduate degree from MIT in Life Sciences, his MD and JD from Duke University, and an MPH in Epidemiology from UNC-Chapel Hill. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine (Occupational Medicine) and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Preventive Medicine, and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM). Dr. Stave is co-editor of the award-winning Physical and Biological Hazards of the Workplace, currently in the third edition. He is the author of numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed articles including many on laboratory animal allergy and the lead author of the recently published ACOEM Guidance Statement on Laboratory Animal Allergy. Dr. Stave is the recipient of the 2025 ACOEM Lifetime Achievement in OEM Award.