Speaker Information
Michael A. Charlton, Ph.D.,
Director of Environmental Health & Safety Department and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Radiological Sciences Program,
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Michael Charlton is the Director of the Environmental Health & Safety Department for the University of Texas Health Science
Center at San Antonio. He holds a bachelors degree in physics and a masters degree in health physics from Texas A&M
University and a masters of public health from the University of Texas School of Public Health. He recently completed a
Ph.D. in Health Physics at Texas A&M University. Mike is board certified in health physics (CHP), industrial hygiene (CIH),
occupational safety (CSP), fire safety (CFI), and hazardous waste management (CHMM). Mike has authored several environmental
health and safety publications and given numerous local and national presentations.
Robert Emery, Ph.D.,
Executive Director of Environmental Health & Safety and Associate Professor for Occupational Health,
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Robert Emery is the Assistant Vice President for Safety, Health, Environment & Risk Management for the University of Texas
Health Science Center and an Associate Professor of Occupational Health for the University of Texas School of Public
Health. He holds master's degrees in radiological health and environmental sciences from the University of North Carolina
system, and a doctorate in public health from the UT School of Public Health. Bob has over 25 years of experience in
health and safety practice and holds national board certification or registration in all of the main areas related to the
health and safety professions.
Kathryn L. Harris, Ph.D., R.B.P.,
Senior Outreach and Education Specialist,
(Contractor) NIH Office of Biotechnology Activities
Kathryn is the Senior Outreach and Education Specialist (contractor) in the Office of Biotechnology Activities (OBA) at
the National Institutes of Health (NIH). OBA promotes science, safety, and ethics in biotechnology through advancement
of knowledge, enhancement of public understanding, and development of sound public policies. OBA accomplishes its mission
through analysis, deliberation, and communication of scientific, medical, ethical, legal, and social issues in several
areas, including recombinant DNA and human gene transfer, genetic technologies, xenotransplantation, and dual use research
and biosecurity.
Kathryn joined OBA in 2004. One of her current roles within OBA is to develop national and regional programs of stakeholder
relations, education, and outreach strategies relevant to the oversight of recombinant DNA research. In addition, she
advises on biosafety issues. Kathryn moved to the USA in 1994 to attend graduate school. She received her Ph.D. from
Cornell University and completed two years of postdoctoral training at Washington University in St Louis.
Prior to joining OBA she was the Biological Safety Officer at Northwestern University. Kathryn is Registered Biological
Safety Professional and a member of the American Biological Safety Association (ABSA) and the Chesapeake Area Biological
Safety Association (ChABSA). She was a founding member and the first president of the Midwest Area Biosafety Network (MABioN).
Brian Herman, Ph.D.,
Vice President of Research,
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Dr. Herman is currently the Vice President for Research at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
(UTHSCSA). He assumed this position in the fall of 2004, after having served Professor & Chair of the Department of
Cellular & Structural Biology at the UTHSCSA since summer of 1998. Dr. Herman is a past recipient of an American Cancer
Society Faculty Research Award, (1991-1995), the Dozer Fellowship from Ben Gurion University, Israel, (1998) and an NIH
(National Institute of Aging) Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award (1994-2004). In 2004, Dr. Herman received
the UTHSCSA Presidential Distinguished Scholar Award. In 2005, he received a second NIH (National Institute of Aging)
Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award (2005-2015). He is listed in American Men and Women of Science, is an
Editor of the Journal Microscopy & Microanalysis, an Associate Editor of the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry and currently
serves on the Editorial Boards of BioTechniques, Journal of Biomedical Optics, American Journal of Physiology: Cell
Physiology, Mechanisms of Aging and Development and the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Dr. Herman has served on multiple
NIH and NSF study sections including a four-year term on the NIH Cell, Development and Function-2 study section, two of
which he served as Chair of the study section.
Shelley M. Payne, Ph.D.,
Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology,
University of Texas at Austin
Shelley Payne is Chair of the Institutional Biosafety Committee at the University of Texas at Austin. She received a
B.A from Rice University and Ph.D. from Southwestern Medical Center. She was a Damon Runyon - Walter Winchell postdoctoral
fellow at the University of California at Berkeley. She is the recipient of grants from NIH, NSF and the Foundation for
Research for work on infectious diseases of humans, and has published numerous articles on the genetics and molecular
biology of bacterial pathogens. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and recipient of an NIH MERIT
award. She has served as member and chair of the NIH Bacteriology and Mycology Study Section and is currently a member
of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Council. Dr. Payne is a member of the editorial board of
Infection and Immunity. She serves as chair of the graduate education committee of the American Society for Microbiology.
Kenneth Shine, M.D.,
Executive Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs,
University of Texas System
Kenneth I. Shine, MD, joined The University of Texas System as Executive Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs on November
24, 2003. Prior to coming to U. T., Dr. Shine was former President of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), and was the
founding Director of the RAND Center for Domestic and International Health Security. Dr. Shine has decades-long experience
working with international health experts on global issues such as emerging infectious illnesses, bioethics, and access
to care. Dr. Shine is Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of
Medicine. A cardiologist and physiologist, he received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1961. Before becoming
president of the IOM, he was Dean and Provost for Medical Sciences at UCLA. Dr. Shine is a member of many honorary and
academic societies, including Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha, Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and
American College of Physicians, and was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 1988. He served as Chairman of the Council
of Deans of the Association of American Medical Colleges from 1991-1992, and was President of the American Heart
Association from 1985-1986.
Allan C. Shipp, M.H.A.,
Director of Outreach,
NIH Office of Biotechnology Activities
Allan is the Director of Outreach for the NIH Office of Biotechnology Activities (OBA), and is responsible for establishing
improved lines of communication with investigators, sponsors, and institutional biosafety committees (IBCs). He has
planned the first NIH conference on policy issues concerning IBCs, organized the first national professional development
conference for staff and members of IBCs, spoken at workshops and meetings on NIH's oversight of human gene transfer
research, organized focus groups for public consultation on the design of a database on human gene transfer research,
initiated electronic communications tools to disseminate information about OBA, and served as a key point of liaison
with senior NIH staff and the extramural community. Mr. Shipp also works on a range of policy issues, including the
oversight and regulation of clinical research and various forms of biotechnology. Before coming to OBA, he was Assistant
Vice President for Biomedical and Health Sciences Research at the Association of American Medical Colleges, where he
worked on an array of policy issues including biotechnology, scientific integrity, research training, and human subjects
research. He was also principal investigator on a project funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to evaluate the
career outcomes of predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows.
Douglas Watts, Ph.D.,
Professor, Department of Pathology,
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Dr. Douglas M. Watts is a professor in the Department of Pathology, and the Associate Director of Scientific Administration
for the Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Berea College, Berea Kentucky, and earned a Master of Science degree and
doctorate in virology and medical entomology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He has served in numerous
high-ranking positions in his field, including Chief of an Arboviral Diseases Research Program at the Walter Reed Army
Institute of Research in Washington D.C.; virologist at the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok,
Thailand.; Head of the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit #3 Department of Virology in Cairo, Egypt; and Scientific Director
of the Naval Medical Research Unit Detachment, Lima, Peru. He also served as the medical research advisor for the World
Health Organization’s (WHO) Southeast Asia Regional Office in New Delhi, India, and WHO adviser for the Ministry of
Health in Sri Lanka. He has authored or co-authored 150 scientific articles, several chapters in text books, and one
book on the diagnosis of HIV infection. Dr. Watts retired from his civil service position with the Department of Defense
in 2002 and joined the UTMB Department of Pathology in July 2002 where he has been a key member of a biodefense research
team involved in the planning and manage- ment of the establishment of a Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and
Emerging Infectious Diseases Research and for the planning and construction of a National Biocontainment Laboratory. His
current research is focused on the evaluation of candidate vaccines and therapeutics for selected viral pathogens in
laboratory animal models. The aims of these studies are to identify promising vaccines and therapeutics, with the ultimate
aim of developing intervention strategies. The specific viral pathogens being studied include monkey pox, West Nile and
Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever.
Nelson Wivel, M.D.,
Deputy Director of Gene Therapy Program,
The University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine
Nelson Wivel, MD is the Deputy Director of the Gene Therapy Program at the University of Pennsylvania, a post he has held
since 1996. Prior to that time, he had an extended career at the NIH. For approximately 20 years he worked as an
intramural scientist in the National Cancer Institute, focusing his research on retroviruses. For his last seven years at
NIH, he was the Director of the Office of Recombinant DNA Activities (ORDA) and the Executive Secretary of the Recombinant
DNA Advisory Committee (RAC). Dr. Harold Varmus, the NIH Director when he left, said that "Dr Wivel played a valuable role
in guiding the RAC and NIH through the earliest human trials of gene therapy and the initial era of this fledgling
technology." He is recognized for his special knowledge of the history of gene therapy and its oversight.
