Agenda/Faculty

Sessions begin at 8:00 am each day and end with a roundtable discussion between 5:15 and 5:30 pm with two coffee breaks and lunch provided.

AGENDA (subject to change)

Sunday

6:00 – 7:00 pm: Opening Reception – Sign in and meet the instructors and other students that will be attending the course.
(This is not mandatory. You can also sign in early Monday morning.)

Monday

  • Molecular Biology
  • Introduction to Pathogenic Microbiology
  • Risk Assessment

Tuesday

  • Human Source Materials & Mammalian Cell Lines
  • Research Animals & Allergens
  • Biocontainment Equipment
  • Course Dinner (6:30 to 9:00 pm)

Wednesday

  • Biocontainment Facilities
  • Biocontainment Practices
  • Biocontainment Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Thursday

  • Decontamination
  • Disposal
  • Emergency Response
  • Biosecurity

Friday

  • Shipment and Transfer of Biological Materials
  • Strategies for Effective Biosafety Management & Communication

COURSE FACULTY

(not all listed faculty may serve as instructors at this offering)

Pat Condreay received his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Rice University and his graduate degree in microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin. For over thirty years he pursued a career in research, studying the molecular biology of different systems. His interests varied from the study of bacteriophages and human pathogenic viruses to the development of recombinant viral-mediated gene delivery technology and its application to cell-based assay development. Pat has developed and taught several classes on the use and biosafety implications of recombinant viral vectors in biomedical research for both the Eagleson Institute and ABSA International. He was part of the curriculum development team and is now the co-Lead for Principles & Practices of Biosafety®. After a 28-year career with GlaxoSmithKline Pat retired as a Group Leader in the Biological Sciences division of GSK Molecular Discovery Research. Pat had served on GSK’s EHS Executive Committee and chaired the Institutional Biosafety Committee and Biological Safety Committee at GSK’s Research Triangle Park site for 15 years. He also served as a community member of the Duke University IBC. After spending a few years consulting on biological safety with several companies and academic institutions, Pat joined the Duke Human Vaccine Institute as Biosafety Officer in 2018 and retired once again in 2025. Pat received the 2005 John H. Richardson Special Recognition Award from ABSA International, and he is a Past President of the Association.

Michelle Kom Gochnour is the Senior Occupational Health and Safety Consultant with the Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) team at Seattle Children’s Research Division in Seattle, Washington. Her current role encompasses biosafety support for biosafety level 2 and 3 facilities, occupational health programs for researchers and support staff, consultation for chemical safety, strategies for animal research safety and health, guidance on emergency response protocols, as well as training, policy, and program development. She serves on Seattle Children’s Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), as well as the IBC at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.

Michelle holds a master’s degree in occupational and environmental health nursing from University of Washington (UW). Previously, Michelle served as assistant director with that UW program, developing future generations of professionals. Her past career has included work and consultation in academia, governmental agencies, private industry, healthcare, the military, and for research laboratories.

Michelle presented Research Occupational Health: An Overview, a distance learning course for ABSA in 2023. She also teaches with the Eagleson Institute in their Advanced BSL-3 Practices and Procedures course, as well as their Preventing and Treating Biological Exposures colloquium. Michelle loves a good risk assessment discussion and collaborative problem-solving to foster improved control strategies.

Paul Jennette holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Environmental Engineering from Cornell and the University of Massachusetts, respectively, and is both a Registered Professional Engineer and a Certified Biological Safety Professional.  Since 1999, he has held the position of Biosafety Engineer at the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine and has also been the Director of Biocontainment Operations there since 2013.  Paul’s responsibilities include:

  • design, verification, operation, decontamination, and program management related to Cornell’s BSL-3, ACL-3, and ABSL-3 facilities, which include both research & diagnostic laboratories as well as a BSL-3 large animal necropsy
  • training all Cornell BSL-3 scientific and support staff and providing direct, in-containment support for BSL-3 diagnostic operations
  • directing the operations of Cornell’s medical and pathological waste treatment facility, which includes a 5,000-lb/batch carcass digester
  • serving on Cornell’s Institutional Biosafety Committee and directing the Cornell Vet College Rabies Risk Management Program.

Paul serves on biosecurity teams for Select Agent Labs at the Cornell Vet College and provides technical support for the College’s effluent decontamination systems.  He served as the American Biological Safety Association’s representative on the ANSI committee to develop a national standard for the verification of BSL-3 facility performance, is a reviewer and lead author of a technical column for the Applied Biosafety journal, and is a member of ABSA’s Professional Development Team.  He is a co-chair of ABSA’s Principles & Practices of Biosafety® class as well as a regular instructor for BSL-3 courses offered by the Eagleson Institute and ABSA.  In addition to his position at Cornell, Paul provides biocontainment operations consulting services to a variety of academic, governmental, and pharmaceutical clients.

Paul is currently a biosafety consultant, providing guidance and training to a number of academic and government institutions regarding safe containment practices.  Prior to retiring from the CDC in 2019, he was the Associate Director for Laboratory Science in the Office of Laboratory Science and Safety.  Paul also served as the Director of the Environment, Safety, and Health Compliance Office for CDC.

From 1996 to 2010, he served in a variety of positions at Merck and Co., Inc. He has also been an Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences at Northern Illinois University.  Paul has an undergraduate degree in Biology and Chemistry from SUNY College at Oswego, New York (1977), a Ph.D. in Radiation Biology from the University of Rochester (1983), and an MPH in Occupational Health and Safety Management from Tulane University (2003).

He also holds RBP and CBSP certifications from ABSA.  He has served two terms on the ABSA Council as Secretary and one term as President, has served as President of the Mid-Atlantic Biological Safety Association (MABSA) and the Southeast Biological Safety Association (SEBSA).  He has been a member of numerous Federal taskforces and committees.

Corrie Ntiforo is the Director of Biosafety at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where she also serves as the Institutional Biosafety Officer and Alternate Responsible Official. With over 17 years of experience, Ms. Ntiforo is a seasoned biosafety professional known for leading world-class biosafety programs in high and maximum containment laboratories, Select Agent programs, and biosafety operations in both academic and healthcare settings.

Specializing in the oversight of high-containment laboratories, biosafety training, and biocontainment unit operations for patients with high-consequence infectious diseases (HCID), Ms. Ntiforo is skilled in establishing best practices, prevention measures, and rapid response protocols. She is certified in HAZWOPER (40-hour), IATA Dangerous Goods Shipping, and FEMA Incident Response.

Before joining UTMB, she served as a Biosafety Specialist and Alternate Responsible Official at Tulane University’s National Primate Research Center, where she played a key role in the launch of the Regional Biocontainment Laboratory (RBL). Ms. Ntiforo holds a Master of Science in Public Health in Parasitology and Tropical Medicine from Tulane University and a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

She is a Registered Biosafety Professional (RBP) through the American Biological Safety Association (ABSA), where she contributes to the Professional Development Committee, BSAT Community Advocate Committee, and Biosafety Metrics Task Force. She is also an active participant in the NIAID NBL/RBL Network, NETEC, and the RAV3N BSL-3 Network.

Jeff is a Senior Laboratory Planner for HERA, the largest laboratory planning firm in the US.  He is a Certified Biological Safety Professional with over 28 years of laboratory safety, security and compliance experience with particular expertise in program assessment, development, and implementation. He has unique experience in laboratory facility design review and regulatory compliance assessment for the third largest university system in the country comprising 35 institutions. Mr. Owens was instrumental in building a comprehensive laboratory safety and security program at a large, urban research university that included a diverse portfolio of research activities. He was responsible for the management and oversight of nearly 100 laboratories including A/BSL-2 and A/BSL-3 and was also directly involved with the safety, security, operations, and maintenance of one of the only BSL-4 facilities in the world located in an academic setting and served as the institution’s Responsible Official for Select Agents. Mr. Owens has more recently been involved in A/BSL-3 facility planning and programming activities domestically and overseas, most notably in the Southeast Asia and Middle East regions working for various Ministries of Health and Agriculture as they develop in-country capabilities to address and respond to the needs for basic and applied research in emerging infectious diseases. Mr. Owens was furthermore fundamental in the development, implementation and delivery of a Global Biorisk Management Curriculum targeting under-served and resource-limited countries around the world.

Carrie Smith is a seasoned biosafety professional with over fifteen years of experience spanning academia, government, and the private sector. As a Senior Scientist at Merrick & Company, she specializes in biosafety and laboratory operations planning, helping clients design and transition laboratories through new constructions, renovations, and strategic upgrades. Her expertise also extends to assisting clients with training, compliance inspection preparedness, biosafety program development, decontamination strategies, documentation development, and other critical biosafety initiatives.

Before joining Merrick, Carrie held key roles in biosafety leadership, serving as BSO and ARO at Oklahoma State University, a biosafety specialist and trainer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and BSO and ARO at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center. She earned her undergraduate degree in Biology with a concentration in Biotechnology from the University of Delaware and went on to complete her Ph.D. in Genetics at North Carolina State University, where her research encompassed recombinant bacteria, viruses, fungi, plants, and biological toxins.

Throughout her career, Carrie has successfully led both small and large biosafety programs, demonstrating expertise in BSL-3/ABSL-3 oversight, atypical animal biocontainment, select agent program management, recombinant technology, plant biosafety, diagnostic laboratory protocols, and the development of online and in-person training. In addition to her professional contributions, she is deeply involved in educational initiatives, serving as an instructor for ABSA’s Principles & Practices of Biosafety Course®, teaching the ABSA BSL-3 Operations and Management professional development course, and actively participating in the Preconference Course Committee.

Dee Zimmerman, Biosafety Consultant, Galveston, TX

Domenica (Dee) Zimmerman retired from the University of Texas Medical Branch, Environmental Health and Safety. She was the university biosafety officer, director of the Health, safety and training core for the UTMB Galveston National Laboratory, senior environmental health and safety consultant in the Biological Safety program and served as the university’s select agent program alternate responsible official, IBC member and coordinator. Her duties include working closely with research staff in BSL-2, BSL-3. BSL-4, ABSL-2, 3, and 4 laboratories working closely with research scientists, biocontainment engineers, facility staff and occupational health. Dee was with the University of Texas Medical Branch from 1982 until retiring in 2017. She attended Inter-American University in Puerto Rico and was the lab and safety coordinator for the Marine Ecology Division, Center for Energy and Environmental Research at the University of Puerto Rico. Dee is the 2019 Past President of ABSA International.

I appreciate the knowledge and stories shared and I am extremely excited to bring this knowledge back to my department. I am new to biosafety and this course truly helped me understand more about it.

PPB Attendee

This is by far the best offsite training I’ve ever gone as a student and/or professional! So much learning and so much fun at the same time! It’s a very unique and special faculty group!

PPB Attendee

Such a wonderful course that will really help me as a new professional in the biosafety field. The interactive exercises were beneficial to apply the course knowledge to practice and experience what it’s like to work with others to make risk assessments and decisions.

JUL 2021 PPB Attendee

I really enjoyed the course. I come from a limited background in biosafety and feel as though I walked out of the course with a much greater feel and understanding of those things I encounter in our biosafety laboratories.

PPB Attendee

I wanted to thank you again for an entertaining and informative week. I had a great time and wanted to let you know, the training and resources provided has made a difference in how I view and approach biorisk management.

PPB Attendee

ABSA Principles and Practices in Biosafety® Course is a great learning experience for biosafety professional. The subjects covered are broad, deep, and practical, and the instructors are highly knowledgeable, engaging, and funny.

PPB Attendee

Great course providing the basics of biosafety for biosafety professionals, Outstanding instruction and important practical examples/information to help biosafety professionals to be successful and build an effective biosafety program!

PPB Attendee

This was the best training course I have ever taken. Each instructor was great in how they could relay the material and bring their own perspectives to the course. I have never seen a group of instructors with that kind of chemistry together to build off each other through the week – this I also belive helpd the group itself mesh really well. The interactive exercises added a tone to the learning experience. They were challenging but also having a short time frame for most of them helped keep us at task while also creating a bit of a stress that we will see in the field. I also greatly appreciated the approachability of the instructors; having chances to interact outside of the class was great and helped break down the walls that can be present in trainings to be able to better approach each person during the week. I cannot give enough thanks to each instructor.

FEB 2020 PPB Attendee

ABSA’s Principles and Practices of Biosafety® is the best comprehensive source of biosafety that I have encountered. It came highly recommended and it lived up to its name. The interactive exercises and the information that was provided to us will serve me as reference material for months and years to come. Thank you so much to the ABSA team for making this a great learning experience!

PPB Attendee

This training was very valuable because it helped me see how much I already know, learn in more detail about things that I knew but superficially. The fact that the modules were presented by very experienced professionals gave me a sense of great appreciation for the Biosafety and Biosecurity program and willing to participate and be more active in the program

PPB Attendee

Excellent foundation course for the beginning biosafety professional, welcoming to a wide mix of professional backgrounds. Would highly recommend to anyone looking to establish themselves in the field, or working on implementing a biosafety risk management program at their institution.

PPB Attendee