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Media Relations
Kansas State University
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Manhattan, KS 66506
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media@k-state.edu
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DAVID R. FRANZ
Chair, Biosecurity Advisory Committee

 

David FranzAs chair of Kansas State University's Biosecurity Advisory Committee, David Franz heads an elite group charged with overseeing K-State's initiatives in biosecurity.

The Biosecurity Advisory Committee -- which consists of nationally known experts in containment laboratory operations, research and management -- will provide K-State with an additional level of review and a long-term vision for the university's high-level research programs. The group's first charge will be to review the current and future programs at K-State's BRI -- Biosecurity Research Institute. That task will involve the development of a plan to ensure the long-term sustainability of the institute, as well as reviewing items such as regulatory requirements and the BRI's business plan. The Biosecurity Advisory Committee also will review the ongoing mission of the National Agricultural Biosecurity Center and other university biosecurity and biosafety initiatives.

Franz previously served as director of the National Agricultural Biosecurity Center at K-State. As director, he facilitated the development of a broad range of programs in preharvest and postharvest biosecurity. He continues to serve as vice president and chief biological scientist of the Midwest Research Institute, where he develops business activities in the areas of biodefense education and preparation, nonproliferation, cooperative threat reduction and biosafety. Franz introduces scientists and staff at K-State and the Midwest Research Institute to potential collaborative opportunities nationally and internationally.

Franz served in the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command for 23 of 27 years on active duty and retired as colonel. He served as commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and as deputy commander of the Medical Research and Materiel Command. Prior to joining the Command, he served as group veterinarian for the 10th Special Forces Group, Airborne.

Franz was the chief inspector on three United Nations Special Commission biological warfare inspection missions to Iraq and served as technical advisor on long-term monitoring. He also served as a member of the first two U.S.-U.K. teams that visited Russia in support of the Trilateral Joint Statement on Biological Weapons and as a member of the Trilateral Experts' Committee for biological weapons negotiations.

Franz was technical editor for the Textbook of Military Medicine on Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare released in 1997. Current committee appointments include the Defense Intelligence Agency Red Team Bio-Chem 2020, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Threat Reduction Advisory Committee, the National Academy of Sciences Committee on International Security and Arms Control, the Department of Health and Human Services National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, the Sandia National Laboratories Distinguished Advisory Panel for international activities, and the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee. He also serves on the boards of the Federation of American Scientists and the Kansas Bioscience Authority.

Franz holds an adjunct appointment as a professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology at K-State's College of Veterinary Medicine, where he serves on the Dean's Advisory Council. He also is a senior fellow of the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The current focus of his activities relates to the role of international engagement in the life sciences as a component of national security policy.

Franz earned a D.V.M. from K-State and a Ph.D. in physiology from Baylor College of Medicine.

He can be reached at drf@k-state.edu.