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University Research Compliance Office

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Jerry Jaax, DVM, ACLAM

Jerry Jaax is the Associate Vice President for Research Compliance and University Veterinarian at Kansas State University. In this role he is responsible for University-wide compliance with applicable regulatory laws and guidelines for animal care and use programs, research involving human subjects, and recombinant DNA activities and biosafety. He is has been the PI on several high profile federal homeland security projects dealing with bioterrorism, and collaborates with scientists on other university biodefense and biosecurity projects and initiatives.

He received his DVM from KSU in 1972 and entered the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps. After various initial assignments and a post-graduate residency in the specialty of Laboratory Animal Medicine, he was assigned as the Chief of the Veterinary Medicine and Laboratory Support Division at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Chemical Defense (ICD) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. He was then named Chief of the Veterinary Medicine Division at the U. S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Ft. Detrick MD from 1989-1996. He concurrently served as the director of the Army’s post-graduate training program in laboratory animal medicine from 1986 to1996 and the Consultant to the Surgeon General of the Army for the specialty of Laboratory Animal Medicine. In 1996, he was named the Director of the Biological Arms Control Treaty Office at Ft Detrick MD, and was responsible for implementation and compliance of the U.S. Army with all international biological warfare treaties and agreements. He retired from the Army at the rank of Colonel in 1998 and returned to KSU. He has been the recipient of many military awards including the Legion of Merit and was inducted into the Order of Military Medical Merit.

Dr. Jaax has extensive experience in high-hazard biological and chemical warfare defense programs, biological arms control and compliance, and in biological weapons counter proliferation. He worked with officials of the DoD and the U.S. State Department in Cooperative Threat Reduction efforts in the Former Soviet Union. While assigned to USAMRIID at Ft Detrick, he was a key participant in the Reston Ebola virus outbreak, in Reston VA – described in the #1 NY Times bestseller, “The Hot Zone” by Richard Preston, and inspiring the movie “Outbreak.” He has published and lectured internationally on bioterrorism, agroterrorism, emerging infectious disease issues and emergency response. Because of his background and experiences, he has a broad perspective of public health and the agricultural biological threats.

Jerry JaaxGerald P. Jaax
Associate Vice President for Research Compliance and University Veterinarian
203 Fairchild Hall
Phone: 785 532-3224
Fax: 785 532-3278
E-mail: comply@ksu.edu