Biosafety & Biosecurity Fellowship
The Elizabeth R. Griffin Program Student Fellowship is an opportunity for graduate students at Georgetown University to gain hands-on experience in the fields of biosafety, biosecurity, and occupational health. Fellows will work with ERGP faculty and staff to develop and execute research projects, culminating in a research paper to be published on the ERGP website and other relevant venues. In addition, the research project fellow(s) will have the opportunity to participate in biosafety, biosecurity and occupational health-related events and seminars, and to network with experts in the field.
Meet our Fellows
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Zev received his B.S in Public Health from the University of Alabama, where he focused on infectious disease prevention and One Health. He will graduate from Georgetown University with his M.S in Biohazardous Threat Agents & Emerging Infectious Diseases in May of 2023. While at Alabama, Zev worked at the Saving Lives Initiative, where he coordinated community based vaccine outreach amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, he worked at the Earley Integrative Animal Behavior Laboratory, where he conducted research on environmental DNA accumulation and degradation rates. Zev hopes to blend his interdisciplinary understanding of public health and microbiology to pursue a career in disease surveillance and biological disaster preparedness. Currently, Zev is an Elizabeth R. Griffin Program Fellow, conducting research into innovative metagenomic surveillance of biological threats.
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Dana holds a B.S. in Public Health with a minor in Bioinformatics from George Washington University, and will complete her M.S. in Biohazardous Threat Agents & Emerging Infectious Diseases from Georgetown University in December 2022. Dana spent her time as the 2021-2022 ERG Fellow studying modern biosafety applications and the efficacy of international health metrics. She is a certified Emergency Medical Technician with a research background in global health security, U.S. biodefense, and medical anthropology. In her free time, Dana enjoys crossword puzzles, ceramics classes, and growing her indoor garden.
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Brian attended Stony Brook University, where he earned a B.S. in biology, concentrating on interdisciplinary studies. He was a cofounding board member of Stony Brook University National Society of Leadership and Success chapter and later president. Brian aspires to blend his leadership attributes towards mitigating emerging infectious diseases. Brian is eager to learn the fundamentals in infectious disease science, data modeling, and policy by combining previous skills.
He has aspirations to research immunogenicity and further novel therapeutics and vaccine development. He interned at Brookhaven National Laboratory throughout his undergraduate career, where he participated in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI) program. It was there, he found a keen interest in academic research and plans on carrying over the research fundamentals to infectious disease science and medical science. He is currently a graduate student research assistant for the Elizabeth R. Griffin Research Foundation working to innovate biorisk management solutions.
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Ryan Houser was an inaugural ERGP Biosafety and Biosecurity Fellow. Ryan has a MS in Biohazardous Threat Agents and Emerging Infectious Diseases and an EMPS in Emergency and Disaster Management from Georgetown University among other graduate and professional degrees. Ryan was also previously a fellow at O'Neill Institute For National And Global Health Law – Georgetown University Law Center. At Georgetown Ryan conducted additional research with GULC’s Covid-19 Law Lab Consortium and Georgetown Center for Global Health Science and Security. Ryan has also conducted research with New Jersey Medical School (neurosurgery), Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences in New Brunswick (physiological psychology), and Rutgers Law School (health disparities and potential legal protections), Kings College London (Global BioLabs project), York University (legal epidemiology for zoonoses), and George Washington University (Program on Extremism). Ryan current works as an Emergency Management Specialist, primarily assisting with public health and healthcare preparedness as well as training and exercising. Previously, Ryan worked in various first responder and healthcare roles within his community, receiving recognition as the National EMT of the Year by the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians in 2017.
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Hannah Locke is an alumnus of the Biohazardous Threat Agents and Emerging Infectious Diseases Program at Georgetown. She was inducted into the Beta Beta Beta Biological Honors Society at Ursinus College, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and minors in biostatistics and anthropology in 2013. As an undergraduate, she worked as a student researcher studying the effects of deletion of the Wntless gene in macrophages of skeletal muscle repair in mice.
As a graduate student, she worked as a student researcher with Dr. John Casey studying the replication pathways of hepatitis delta virus. Additionally, as an Elizabeth R. Griffin Fellow in the Center for Global Health Science & Security from 2020-2021 she studied the complex interactions and global health risks posed by dengue transmission in India. She is currently working full-time as a Senior Statistical programmer for Advanced Clinical supporting, and leading teams that provide statistical analyses for clinical trials in various therapeutic areas.