Frontline Foundation

Biographies

Murray L. Cohen, Ph.D., M.P.H., C.I.H is President and Chairman of the Frontline Healthcare Workers Safety Foundation, Ltd.

A certified industrial hygienist, Dr. Cohen is an internationally recognized expert in occupationally transmitted infectious diseases, infections, risk assessments, bioterrorism, biosafety, and biosecurity. Dr. Cohen serves as the Executive Director of the National Biosafety & Biocontainment Training Program and currently serves on the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity as well as the Federal Interagency Expert Panel for Anthrax Spore Efficacy Test Methods and Surrogates. He is an Expert Consultant in Biosecurity to the World Health Organization and consults for the NIH as well as several other U.S. and foreign government agencies. Dr. Cohen retired as a Captain from the U.S. Public Health Service following a 21-year career with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He earned his B.A. with Honors in Biological Sciences from the University of Texas, his Masters of Public Health from the University of Texas’ School of Public Health, and his Doctor of Philosophy in Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago.

Jennifer Elin Cole, MSW, is Associate Director of the Frontline Healthcare Workers Safety Foundation, Ltd.

Jennifer Elin Cole, MSW, has worked as the organization’s associate director since 1998 overseeing program development, marketing, reporting, and supervising the three Project Administrators and has served as director of operations for CDIC since 1997. She has been integral in producing all five of the Frontline Foundation’s meetings including two national and one international healthcare worker safety conferences and two homeland security summits. Ms. Cole earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis. Before assuming an executive role for Frontline Foundation, she held leadership positions in sales and non-profit program management. She has nearly 25 years of experience in staff and business development and program management and delivery. As the principal client interface, she is supremely qualified to ensure contract delivery and management.

James M. (Jim) Welch is Director of Development of the Frontline Healthcare Workers Safety Foundation, Ltd.

Mr. Welch serves as an ex-officio member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Biosafety and Biocontainment Training Program and as Executive Director of the Elizabeth R. Griffin Research Foundation, a non-profit foundation that supports biosafety training and provides funding for research grants in the field of zoonotic diseases. Welch, a retired educator, was named Tennessee’s Outstanding Teacher of the Humanities in 1998 by the Tennessee Humanities Council and was the Tennessee Council for the Social Studies Outstanding Social Studies Teacher in 2002. He was a nominee for both the National PTA’s Outstanding Educator Award and the Daughters of the American Revolution Outstanding Teacher of American History. He has served as chairman of the Tennessee Education Association Legislative Committee and on a number of local and state education and budget committees. Welch has worked with many organizations nationwide to develop and implement action strategies and human resource programs and with several school districts in curriculum and textbook coordination programs. Educated at East Tennessee State University and the University of Tennessee, Welch was recognized as an Outstanding Alumnus from ETSU’s College of Education in 1998.

Richard J. Green is Senior Curriculum Developer & Training Technology Director of the Frontline Healthcare Workers Safety Foundation, Ltd.

A nationally known speaker and author, Mr. Green has worked as a biosafety training manager and biosafety officer for more than 20 years and has published more than three dozen manuals, articles, books and other media. During his 17 years as Safety Training Manager for the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention he developed safety training materials including manuals, videotapes, CDs as well as job aids such as posters, calendars for distribution to CDC employees that have since become national standards for safety training aids. Mr. Green planned and budgeted for the development and implementation of safety and health training for Georgia state public health workers as required under the OSHA Occupational Health and Safety Act. An expert on OSHA regulations, Mr. Green worked with bioterrorism experts to increase readiness of all Georgia public health workers and has developed and presented training courses in general safety, hazard communication, emergency response, fire safety, laboratory safety, chemical safety, basic radiation safety, bloodborne pathogens, packaging and shipping division 6.2 materials, agents of bioterrorism and biosafety. Mr. Green received his Bachelor of Science in Biology from Old Dominion University and a Master of Science in Genetics from George Washington University. In addition to being the recipient of the CDC Honor Award for Contributions to Health and Safety in 2002 and a Joint Service Commendation Medal in 1974, Green is also a member of the American Society of Training and Development, the American Biological Safety Association, the Southeastern Biological Safety Association, the Genetics Society of Georgia, the Association of Cytogenetic Technologists and the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. At Frontline Foundation, Mr. Green is responsible for developing classroom and distance learning courses, overseeing on-site training programs at regional host sites and designated training facilities, and developing training delivery methods that maximize emerging technologies.

Jill Niland, MPH, CIH, CSP, is Training Director of the Frontline Healthcare Workers Safety Foundation, Ltd.

Ms. Niland, a board-certified industrial hygienist, has worked in the field of industrial hygiene for nearly 28 years. At Frontline she manages development of training and certificate programs for operations and maintenance and biosafety staffs in biocontainment facilities, and develops and manages other training efforts. As a consultant for the previous six years with CDIC Chicago, she conducted industrial hygiene surveys and safety management audits, developed safety programs, and worked with government agencies to develop online training programs. For more than a decade, Ms. Niland served as Senior Industrial Hygiene Consultant and Manager of Occupational Health Programs for the National Safety Council where she co-edited the fourth edition of Fundamentals of Industrial Hygiene. She also provided technical input for the development of key courses, including the five-day Fundamentals of Industrial Hygiene course, taught health and safety courses, and provided technical support for a number of council publications. Ms. Niland received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and a Master of Public Health from the University of Illinois, School of Public Health in Chicago, with concentration in Occupational and Environmental Health. She has held several leadership positions with the Chicago Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association. Ms. Niland also served on the board of the National AIHA from 1991-1994, and was one of a group awarded AIHA’s prestigious Baier Award for her contribution to industrial hygiene in 1992. She was also a contributor to the fourth edition of the Dictionary of Terms Used in the Safety Profession, published by the American Society of Safety Engineers in 2001.

Rachel Baylin is Fellowship Program Manager of the Frontline Healthcare Workers Safety Foundation, Ltd.

Ms. Baylin works onsite at the National Institutes of Health providing comprehensive administrative and developmental support for the NBBTP Fellowship program. Responsibilities include managing logistics for NBBTP visiting lecturers; coordinating all offsite travel for all NBBTP Fellows; providing executive administrative support to the NBBTP Scientific Advisory Board; maintaining accurate records and databases; directing communications between NBBTP Fellows and their NIH DOHS mentors; representing Frontline Foundation to NIH DOHS staff including the NIH NBBTP Program Director and NIH NBBTP Project Officer. She is proficient in Spanish and served two years as Manager of the Fisher Scientific (now Thermo Fisher) C.O.R.E. program during her undergraduate years at the University of Texas-Austin.

Robyn Mudd is Controller of the Frontline Healthcare Workers Safety Foundation, Ltd.

With nine years experience in office management, record management and accounting services, including government contract administration, Ms. Mudd is responsible for all aspects of contract management and financial record-keeping and reporting. She serves as the executive financial liaison to the foundation’s Board of Directors. She played an integral role in coordinating Frontline Foundation’s four most recent national and international conferences and homeland security summits.

J. Craig Reed, Ph.D., RBP,

J Craig Reed is founder and president of Inspirion Biosciences and serves as principal consultant to Frontline Foundation regarding biosecurity, laboratory biosafety training, laboratory management and operations, policy analysis, and market assessments. He is involved in the identification and development of business opportunities for biological production, scientific services and research/diagnostic equipment in the countries of Central Asia, the Trans Caucasus and Russia. On behalf of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Reed consults with the directors and staff of more than 50 epidemiological surveillance labs and biological research facilities in Russia and the former Soviet Union to improve containment laboratory infrastructure and elements of biosafety, to promote interaction with Western collaborators and to identify opportunities toward future self-sustainability. Dr. Reed also works closely with the ministers of defense, health, agriculture and emergency situations in those locations to more closely align their existing biological safety regulations with the guidelines published by the National Institutes of Health/CDC and the World Health Organization. Dr. Reed served as chief of the genetics and physiology branch during four years of service as a Captain in the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). As principal investigator, he established the institute’s first yeast molecular genetics laboratory and directed investigations into the molecular mechanisms of plague pathogenesis. Dr. Reed is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and received his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Georgia. He is a Registered Biosafety Professional (RBP) with the American Biological Safety Association (ABSA) and is an active member of the biological safety associations of Canada (ABSA, Canada), Europe (EBSA) and the Asia-Pacific (APBSA).

Louise Barden, Ph.D., M.Ed., B.S., MT (ASCP), CHES, is Training Facilitator/CERB Liaison of the Frontline Healthcare Workers Safety Foundation, Ltd.

Dr. Barden joined Frontline Foundation in 2008 to advise instructors and staff in curriculum development and training techniques as well as to conduct training courses. She works directly with the training program director and the CERB chair to develop all content and materials. On the back end of the training, Dr. Barden evaluates instructor performance and the effectiveness of training programs as well as ensures data input and record-keeping to assure compliance with credentialing requirements. Prior to joining Frontline Foundation, Dr. Barden served as a Health Scientist and Health Education Specialist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for nearly 20 years planning, facilitating and evaluating all aspects of laboratory and other training courses, including designing evaluation instruments and working with statisticians to gather and analyze data. Part of that role included conducting workshops on Crisis Communication, Laboratory Biosecurity and Biosafety, Managing Teams and other topics. As a health education specialist, she managed, developed, disseminated and evaluated educational messages about hepatitis C to healthcare professionals. She also conducted research to determine the educational needs of physicians, health care providers and patients. Dr. Barden has authored nearly a dozen papers for the world’s leading medical publications, including being first author on an article in Pediatrics on appropriate antibiotic use. This seminal work served as the ground work for inventions for both physicians and patients on the appropriate use of antibiotics and has been the most cited article in that journal for several years. She has delivered countless presentations, both nationally and internationally, on training healthcare professionals and laboratorians, and has won numerous awards for leading bioterrorism preparedness activities, customer service, and program operations. Dr. Barden, a certified Registered Medical Technologist and Health Education Specialist, earned her Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, a Master of Education and a Ph.D. in Health Promotion and Behavior from the University of Georgia.