Nov. 2, 2012
Keynote to Highlight FDA and National Security
On Monday, Nov. 5, the Department of Biology will host its annual Research Symposium with a keynote address by Luciana Borio, M.D., of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at 1:30 p.m. in the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center Great Room. Borio will talk about "The FDA's Role in Protecting National Health and Security."
Borio, assistant commissioner for counterterrorism policy and director of the Office of Counterterrorism and Emerging Threats (OCET) in the Office of the Chief Scientist of the FDA will speak on the FDA's role in the daily lives of U.S. citizens and the science behind its work.
"The common theme will be that science underpins everything that we do at FDA," Borio said. "FDA is in the daily life of every American...but I think few people realize that. Even the most innocent devices that we encounter day to day are FDA regulated products... I'll try to give a big picture and focus on the science."
Her talk will also address the FDA's role in dealing with potential terrorist threats through food or drugs and her own career as a woman in the sciences.
Frank Portugal, clinical associate professor and director of the M.S. in biotechnology program for the biology department, said he hoped the talk would appeal to a broad range of students, faculty, and staff.
"This is a health issue of the utmost importance to the general public," Portugal said.
"How would an act of biological terrorism affect each person's health and security in the targeted communities? How might FDA distinguish a deliberate from an accidental contamination of food or drugs, for example? What emergency measures might be required? What planning would be needed to ensure the most effective use of medical resources, physicians, and hospitals? What action could we as individuals take to help safeguard both our own health and the health of the general public?"
Borio was working in the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research when the 2008 influenza pandemic broke out in the United States. As director of the Office of Counterterrorism and Emerging Threats in the FDA, Borio now heads the FDA's Medical Countermeasures initiative (MCMi), launched in 2010.
The initiative teams the FDA with other federal agencies to "ensure that safe and effective drugs, vaccines, detection devices, and other equipment are readily available, should we face another emerging infectious disease threat, like the flu pandemic, or an event involving a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear agent," according to the MCMi Webpage.
Borio said she will discuss FDA's role in the initiative and the importance of science to the project.
"Before you allow a product to be released from the manufacturing facility in an emergency, you need to expedite that testing," Borio said. "What are the scientific tools you have when days really count?"
The Research Symposium highlights the research conducted in the biology department. The symposium will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The one-hour keynote lecture is free and open to the public, and light refreshments will follow.
MEDIA: To cover the conference, contact Katie Lee or Mary McCarthy Hines in the Office of Public Affairs at 202-319-5600.