US - NIH dept of HHS dismisses 11 of the original National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) members - July 13, 2014

[sharon sanders]

NIH is reshuffling the membership of NSABB.

U.S. biosafety panel to come out of hibernation with new members


By Jon Cohen 14 July 2014 6:45 pm

On the heels of several mishaps involving deadly pathogens, U.S. officials are reconvening an expert advisory panel that hasn?t met in nearly 2 years.

But the government has also dismissed 11 of the original members of the 23-person panel, called the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB).

?We had no inkling it was going to happen this way,? says Paul Keim, a pathogen genomics researcher at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff who formerly chaired NSABB and has been on the panel since it was formed in 2005. The 11 members learned they were being dismissed Sunday evening in an e-mail from the board?s executive director, Mary Groesch, who works at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), NSABB?s overseer.

snip

Original board member Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infection Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, said he had expected to serve until sometime in 2015.

more...

http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2014/07/u-s-biosafety-panel-come-out-hibernation-new-members

 

[wdcare]

Re: US - NIH dept of HHS dismisses 11 of the original National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) members - July 13, 2014

From the article: The e-mail prompted this tweet from NSABB member Michael Imperiale of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor: ?#NIH just gave remaining inaugural NSABB members pink sheets. Bizarre time to eliminate all institutional memory.?

 

[wdcare]

Re: US - NIH dept of HHS dismisses 11 of the original National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) members - July 13, 2014

The 11 members of NSABB were dismissed just prior to the July 16 scheduled meeting of the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, for CDC Director Friedan and others to explain recent security lapses at CDC labs.
The NSABB last met in November 2012, and [Board member Michael] Osterholm said his last contact with NIH about the panel was in the spring of 2013. “We got one single e-mail saying NSABB had re-upped its charter,” Osterholm says. “That’s the only communication we had in 2 years at a time when the issues we’ve been confronting have been front and center. I don’t understand it.” http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2014/07/u-s-biosafety-panel-come-out-hibernation-new-members
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http://www.kellyhills.com/blog/rema...sed-last-night/#sthash.8Q0Gx9he.FE9YoyFN.dpbs

The following NSABB members were informed they were no longer needed:

• Arturo Casadevall, MD, PhD – Chair, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• David R. Franz, DVM, PhD, Colonel, USA (Retired) – Former Commander, United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases
• John A. Gordon, General, USAF (Retired) – Former Deputy Director, CIA
• Michael J. Imperiale, PhD – Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan School of Medicine
• Paul Keim, PhD – Regents’ Professor and Cowden Chair in Microbiology, Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University
• Stanley M. Lemon, MD – Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina School of Medicine
• John R. Lumpkin, MD, MPH – Senior Vice President and Director, Targeted Teams, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Stuart B. Levy, MD – Director, Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance, Tufts University
• Michael Osterholm, MPH, PhD – Director of CIDRAP, University of Minnesota
• David Relman, MD – Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, and Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Stanford University
• James A. Roth, DVM, PhD – Director, Center for Food Security and Public Health, Iowa State University –

 

[wdcare]

Re: US - NIH dept of HHS dismisses 11 of the original National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) members - July 13, 2014

From the NSABB Charter Document approved 3-21-2014:
http://osp.od.nih.gov/sites/default/files/resources/NSABB Signed Charter_2014.pdf

(snip)
OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE OF ACTIVITIES
The purpose of the NSABB is to provide, as requested, advice, guidance, and leadership
regarding biosecurity oversight of dual use research, defined as biological research with
legitimate scientific purpose that may be misused to pose a biologic threat to public
health and/or national security. The NSABB will provide advice on and recommend
specific strategies for the efficient and effective oversight of federally conducted or
supported dual use biological research, taking into consideration both national security
concerns and the needs of the research community to foster continued rapid progress in
public health and agricultural research. Toward this end, the NSABB will also include
providing strategies to raise awareness of dual use issues relevant to the life science and
related interdisciplinary research communities.
(snip)
AGENCY OR OFFICIAL TO WHOM THE COMMITTEE REPORTS
The NSABB will advise the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS), the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the heads of all
Federal entities that conduct, support or have an interest in life sciences research.
(snip)
ESTIMATED NUMBER AND FREQUENCY OF MEETINGS
Meetings of the full committee will be held approximately two times within a fiscal year,
and may be convened on an as-needed basis, at the call of the NSABB Executive Director
or DFO. Meetings of the NSABB will be open to the public except as determined
otherwise by the Secretary of Health and Human Services?
(snip)
MEMBERSHIP AND DESIGNATION
The NSABB will consist of not more than 25 voting members, including the Chair.
Members will be appointed by the Secretary, HHS, in consultation with the heads of
Federal departments and agencies that conduct or support life science research. The
Secretary, HHS, will designate the Chair. All members will hold security clearances at
the level of Secret or higher. A member of the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory
Committee will serve as a voting member of the NSABB. Voting members are Special
Government Employees and as such serve in their individual capacity as subject matter
experts. None of these members serve as Representatives.

Areas of expertise to be represented on the NSABB, may include but are not be limited
to:
? Molecular Biology/Genomics
? Microbiology (Bacteriology)
? Microbiology (Virology)
? Clinical Infectious Diseases/Diagnostics
? Laboratory Biosafety and Biosecurity
? Public Health/Epidemiology
? Health Physicist/Radiation Safety
? Pharmaceutical Production
? Veterinary Medicine
? Plant Health
? Food Production
? Bioethics
? National Security
? Military Biodefense Programs and Military Medicine
? Intelligence
? Biodefense
? Law
? Law Enforcement
? Academia
? Scientific Publishing
? Industry Perspective
? NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee Experience/Perspective
? Public Perspective
? IBC perspective
? Export Controls

There may be non-voting ex officio members from each of the following Federal entities:
? Executive Office of the President
? Department of Health and Human Services
? Department of Energy
? Department of Homeland Security
? Department of Veterans Affairs
? Department of Defense
? Department of the Interior
? Environmental Protection Agency
? Department of Agriculture
? National Science Foundation
? Department of Justice
? Department of State
? Department of Commerce
? Intelligence Community
? National Aeronautics and Space Administration
? Others as appropriate

Voting members will be invited to serve for overlapping terms of up to four years; terms
of more than two years are contingent upon the renewal of the NSABB' s Charter by
appropriate action prior to its expiration. A voting member's term may be extended until
a successor has been appointed?

(Snip)
NOTICE OF RENEWAL
NATIONAL SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD FOR BIOSECURITY
I hereby determine after appropriate consultation between the HHS and the General Services
Administration, that renewal of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB)
beyond April 7, 2014, is in the public interest in connection with the performance of duties
imposed on the HHS by law, and that these duties can best be performed through the advice and
counsel of such a group. The NSABB is continued until April 7, 2016.
I further deem that it is not feasible for the HHS or any of its existing committees to perform these
duties, and that a satisfactory plan for appropriate balance of NSABB membership has been
submitted.
MAR 2 1 2014
Kathleen Sebelius

 

[gsgs]

Re: US - NIH dept of HHS dismisses 11 of the original National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) members - July 13, 2014

I remember Osterholm saying in a conference (2-yearly? influenza conference, South Africa ?)
that NSABB were no longer a "player".
Dutch government, EU were among the current players

hopefully the blogs and forums will play

> The following NSABB members were informed they were no longer needed:
> Arturo Casadevall ,David R. Franz,John A. Gordon,Michael J. Imperiale,Paul Keim
> Stanley M. Lemon,John R. Lumpkin,Stuart B. Levy,Michael Osterholm,David Relman,James A. Roth