Department of Health and Human Services Names Rachel Levinson as Chair of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES NAMES RACHEL LEVINSON AS CHAIR OF THE NATIONAL SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD FOR BIOSECURITY

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 7, 2025) – The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has named Rachel E. Levinson, a longtime Ex Officio Member of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, as the new chair of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB). Levinson succeeds fellow Commission Ex Officio Member, Gerald Parker, in this role.

Under the auspices of HHS, the NSABB is a federal advisory committee that provides technical advice, guidance, and recommendations at the request of Federal departments and agencies related to biosafety and biosecurity oversight of biomedical research. The NSABB has up to 25 voting members with a broad range of expertise.

“I am honored to take on the responsibility of chairing the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, particularly as it addresses its new charge to develop a roadmap related to the rapid advance of artificial intelligence and its applications in the life sciences,” said Levinson. “I look forward to working with and being informed by experts in AI, computational biology, infectious disease, virology, biosecurity, and other relevant fields. It is reasonable to expect that my work at NSABB will help to inform the ongoing and critical work of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.”

A twenty five-year veteran of science policy at the national level, Rachel Levinson is Executive Director in the Research Engagement Office of Arizona State University’s Knowledge Enterprise. Levinson is responsible for development of relationships, intelligence and strategies that advance the University’s research agenda. Prior to her work at ASU, she served as the Assistant Director for Life Sciences, Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President of the United States, while on detail from the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health.

“Rachel’s new role as chair of the NSABB, along with Gerry Parker’s excellent work in that same position, is yet another example of how our Commission’s Ex Officio members are engaged in relevant issues related to biodefense, which help to shape and inform our work,” said Dr. Asha M. George, Executive Director. “We congratulate Rachel for being named chair and thank her and all of our Ex Officio members for their dedicated service to the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.”

In March 2023, the NSABB delivered its Proposed Biosecurity Oversight Framework for the Future of Science, that informed the development of the new USG Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential. On November 21, 2024, the NSABB received its new charge, details of which can be found here.

About the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense

The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense was established in 2014 to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the state of U.S. biodefense efforts, and to issue recommendations to foster change. The Commission’s 2024 National Blueprint for Biodefense, identified capability gaps and recommended changes to U.S. policy and law to strengthen national biodefense while optimizing resource investments. Other Commission publications have addressed critical needs for an Apollo Program for Biodefense, risk reduction, biodetection, agrodefense, budget reform, diagnostics, biodefense of critical infrastructure, smallpox and orthopoxvirus readiness, and state, local, tribal and territorial response capabilities. In 2018 and 2022, the White House released the National Biodefense Strategy, and in 2022 and 2023, OMB released the biodefense budget crosscut, top recommendations from the Blueprint. In 2021 the White House released the American Pandemic Preparedness Plan and subsequently produced executive orders and national security memoranda, taking up recommendations from the Commission’s Apollo Program and Athena Agenda reports. The Commission continues to address biodefense challenges and urge reform. Former Secretary of Homeland Security Governor Tom Ridge and former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala co-chair the Commission.