Biodefense Institute names new lab director

The Battelle National Biodefense Institute (BNBI) recently named George W. Korch, Jr. as lab director of the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC).

Korch is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has a Ph.D. in Immunology and Infectious Diseases and is a visiting professor in the Department of Molecular Microbiology at The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Hygiene and Public Health.

Korch previously served as senior science adviser to the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response for the Department of Health and Human Services and commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. He also helped found the NBACC.

“We did an extensive national search and I’m confident we found the best leader for the NBACC mission,” Ron Townsend, Battelle’s executive vice president for Global Laboratory Operations and chairman of the BNBI board of directors, said. “Not only does he bring the experience of managing a nationally recognized biodefense lab and directing biosecurity programs, he has unparalleled scientific credentials as evidenced by his faculty affiliation with Johns Hopkins University.”

BNBI manages and operates NBACC for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate as a federally funded research and development center.