Biosecurity and Pandemic Policy Center
Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs
Team
Gerald Parker | Josh Wentzel | Glen Laine | Jason Moats
Gerald Parker
Director of the Biosecurity and Pandemic Policy Center
Dr. Parker is the Associate Dean for Global One Health at the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, and in this role, he also serves as Campus Director for Global One Health at Texas A&M University. He holds an appointment at the Bush School of Government Service as Director of the Pandemic and Biosecurity Policy Program at the Scowcroft Institute for International Affairs within the Bush School of Government & Public Service.
Parker is a member of several advisory boards, including the Texas Task Force on Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response, ex officio member for the Bi-partisan Commission for Biodefense, and chairperson for the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Parker also served as a senior for advisor for the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health and Human Services from August 2020 to February 2021.
Prior to his appointment to Texas A&M University, Dr. Parker held technical to executive leadership positions throughout 36 years of public service as a recognized defense and civilian interagency leader in biodefense, high consequence emerging infectious diseases, global health security and all-hazards public health/medical preparedness. This included coordinating federal medical/public health responses to Hurricanes Katrina thru Alex, to the 2009 Pandemic and Haiti earthquake. Dr. Parker’s service includes more than 26 years on active duty leading military medical research and development programs and organizations. He is a former Commander and Deputy Commander, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. Dr. Parker held senior executive level positions at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Defense (DOD), including serving as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at HHS, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Chemical and Biological Defense at DOD.
Dr. Parker is a 2009 recipient of the Distinguished Executive Presidential Rank Award, the Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service in 2013, and the Senator Melcher Leadership in Public Policy Award from the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges in 2019. Dr. Parker graduated from Texas A&M’s College of Veterinary Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
Josh Wentzel
Assistant Director of the Biosecurity and Pandemic Policy Center
Josh Wentzel is the Assistant Director of the Pandemic and Biosecurity Policy Program at the Scowcroft Institute for International Affairs within the Bush School of Government & Public Service. Based at the Bush School DC, Josh has six years of experience working in Congress, where he spent time in both chambers, working in a House personal office and as minority staff on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee working on pandemic preparedness, stockpiling, and biosecurity issues. During the COVID-19 pandemic response, Josh worked for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, working closely with the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) on distribution of COVID-19 medical countermeasures, daily situational awareness reports, and ASPR testimony to Congress and communication with State and Local governments.
Glen Laine
Summit Leader
Dr. Glen Laine is Regent’s Professor, Vice President for Research Emeritus, and Director of the Michael E. DeBakey Institute for Comparative Cardiovascular Science and Biomedical Devices at Texas A&M University. He is holder of the Wiseman-Lewie-Worth Endowed Chair in Cardiology. Dr. Laine served in the United States Army from 1967 through 1969. He began his academic career as a microbiologist working with various infectious agents. He expanded his graduate education into biophysics and biomedical engineering, applying first principles to human and animal medicine.
Dr. Laine spent a decade in a clinical department of anesthesiology and critical care medicine in the Texas Medical Center before returning to Texas A&M, where he assumed the role of Department Head of Physiology, Pharmacology and Toxicology for approximately twenty years. He spent the past four years as the Vice President for Research at Texas A&M, leading unprecedented growth in research expenditures to just under one billion dollars per year. As Vice President, he initiated the design and construction of the Biosafety Level-3 AG biocontainment facility. This facility will accommodate the chronic study of high consequence zoonotic diseases in large animals along with the vectors responsible for transmission of disease to animals and humans. As Director of the DeBakey Institute for the past eighteen years, he has published extensively in the medical and biomedical engineering literature on fluid resuscitation and edema formation in trauma patients. Dr. Laine’s diverse background led him to a significant interest in potential pandemics resulting from either intentional (bioterrorism) or accidental release of microorganisms genetically modified, utilizing techniques common to synthetic biology, including the policies needed to ensure appropriate preparation, response, and recovery in a resilient society.
Jason Moats
Student Simulation Facilitator
Jason Moats, PhD is the Associate Division Director for the Emergency Services Training Institute / Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service. He currently oversees four programs with a combined annual budget of more than 19 million dollars. He has been with TEEX since 2002. TEEX , a member of The Texas A&M University System, offers hands-on, customized, first-responder training, homeland security exercises, technical assistance and technology transfer services impacting Texas and beyond. As Program Director he is responsible for the emergency medical services, public health and incident management Homeland Security National Training Programs training and technical assistance programs based in the Emergency Operations Training Center.
Dr. Moats has nearly three decades of experience in of emergency services. He has served as a firefighter for departments in Kentucky, Florida, and Indiana, as well as an Emergency Medical Technician in Indiana, Florida and San Diego County (CA). He has been decorated for valor on two occasions while serving as a firefighter/EMT. He has also served in the United States Navy as a hospital corpsman where he served aboard ships as well as in hospitals as an EMT.
In 2000, Dr. Moats became the Hazardous Materials Training Officer and the SARA Title III Program Officer for the State of Kentucky’s Division of Emergency Management. Jason managed the state’s hazardous materials training program and built partnerships between response agencies throughout Kentucky. He is currently adjunct faculty for the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Bush School at Texas A&M University.
He earned his master’s and doctorate degrees in Educational Human Resource Development from Texas A&M University and a bachelor’s degree in Workforce Education & Development from Southern Illinois University. Jason is the author of “Agroterrorism, A Guide for First Responders”. He has had articles published on a variety of topics involving training and development, technology acceptance, crisis management, and the work of scholar-practitioners. He also has published a chapter in the Handbook of Innovative Technology Integration in Higher Education. He is the past Proceedings Editor (2015) and Conference Program Chair (2016 & 2017) for the Academy of Human Resource Development’s (AHRD) International Research Conference in the Americas. He is currently a member of the Academy of Human Resource Development’s Board of Directors. He is a faculty fellow with the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center and a research fellow with the Bush School of Government and Public Service’s Institute for Science Technology, and Public Policy, both of which are at Texas A&M University.
Benjamin Snyder
Program Aide
Ben Snyder is a Program Aide at the Biosecurity and Pandemic Policy Center. Ben’s work includes research on federal oversight of pathogen research, medical countermeasure manufacturing, and AI in biology and healthcare. Previously, he conducted research on responsible publication norms in the life sciences and the risk of biological weapons as a summer research fellow at the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation. He has also worked as a research assistant in a public health lab where he studied the progression and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ben received a BA in Economics from Yale University.
