“Bioterrorism: Protecting Our Country, Protecting Ourselves” is a free public lecture and panel discussion to be held at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on June 14, 2002 at 7 p.m. The lecture will feature leaders in national security-related research from Stanford University’s Institute for International Studies, together with local experts in pharmaceutical and biomedical research. The panel will discuss several issues related to bioterrorism including strategies for protection against this threat. Panelists include:
Steven M. Block
Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for International Studies
Professor of Applied Physics and of Biological Sciences
Stanford University
Professor Block is a member of JASON, a group of academicians that consults for the U.S. Government and its agencies on technical matters related to national security. He has written and spoken extensively about the growing threat of biological warfare and bioterrorism, and will address the threat of bioterrorism in the post-9/11 landscape.
Christopher Chyba
Co-Director, Stanford Center for International Security
Associate Professor of Geological and Environmental Sciences
Stanford University
Professor Chyba pursues security-related research which focuses on biological terrorism and issues of nuclear proliferation. Recipient of a 2001 MacArthur Foundation “genius” fellowship, Professor Chyba served on the national security staff of the White House from 1993 to 1995. In 1994, while Director for International Environmental Affairs on the staff of the National Security Council, Dr. Chyba was named one of Time Magazine’s “Fifty for the Future.” Acting as a consultant after leaving the White House, Dr. Chyba drafted the President’s directive on responding to emerging infectious diseases, and completed a report for the Office of Science and Technology Policy on preparing for biological terrorism. A leading expert in the threats of bioterror, Dr. Chyba will address the security landscape in America and ways in which we – as citizens and as a nation – can fight this growing threat.
Edward M. Scolnick
President, Merck Research Laboratories
Executive Vice President for Science and Technology, Merck & Company, Inc.
Dr. Scolnick will discuss the progress made by the pharmaceutical industry to fight specific bioterror threats. With an annual budget nearing $3 billion, Merck makes one of the largest research and development investments in the global pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Scolnick was recently appointed to a committee of the National Academy of Sciences on research standards and practices to prevent destructive application of advanced biotechnology. He will address vaccine development, threats to national medical supplies, and other issues which threaten our nation’s health and security.
The “Bioterrorism: Protecting Our Country, Protecting Ourselves” panel discussion will be moderated by Bruce Stillman, Ph.D., FRS, the Chief Executive Officer and Director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The panel represents the first initiative to gather experts from both coasts to discuss this pressing issue. “We are pleased to present such an informative and potentially life-saving discussion to the Long Island public,” said Stillman. “With the support of Stanford University and the Institute for International Studies, our community will benefit from the research conducted on both coasts of America and have a better understanding of the threat of bioterrorism which, unfortunately, looms overhead today.”
The Institute for International Studies (IIS) at Stanford University conducts and promotes interdisciplinary research on key global and international issues. The Institute consists of five research centers – the Asia/Pacific Research Center, the Bechtel Initiative on Global Growth and Change, the center for Environmental Science and Policy, the Center for Health Policy, and the Center for International Security and Cooperation (which panelist Christopher Chyba co-directs). The Institute makes the results of its research and analysis available to academics and policy-makers, and to the media and general public through publications, conferences, lectures and other public events. This will be the first public event hosted by the IIS on the East Coast with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
“Bioterrorism: Protecting Our Country, Protecting Ourselves” will be held at 7 p.m. at the Grace Auditorium at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The panel presentation is free and open to the public, but reservations are required. Reservations can be made by calling (516) 367-8455 or online at www.cshl.edu/events. For more information, contact the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Department of Special Events, (516) 367-6961.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is located on Route 25A in Laurel Hollow, one mile west of the town of Cold Spring Harbor. For directions, call (516) 367-8455, or visit the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory web site at https://www.cshl.edu/about-us/directions/
PRESS SPACE IS LIMITED AND SUBJECT TO
PRE-EVENT SECURITY CLEARANCE.
TO RESERVE SPACE, AND FOR SECURITY INFORMATION,
PLEASE CALL JEFF PICARELLO AT 516-367-8486.
Written by: Communications Department | publicaffairs@cshl.edu | 516-367-8455