Title: Executive Director
Company: Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
Location: Rockville, Maryland, United States
Dr. Asha M. George, Executive Director at Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Executives for dedication, achievements, and leadership in national security.
Following obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in natural sciences in 1987 from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Dr. George followed with a Master of Science in Public Health in parasitology and laboratory practice from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1988. She continued her education with a Doctor of Public Health in public health policy and security preparedness from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1997. She served her country with the United States Army from 1989 to 1992, where she excelled as a deputy intelligence operations officer, platoon leader and company executive officer.
From 1996 to 1997, Dr. George provided superior service as a program analyst with the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health and from 1998 to 1999 as director of the National Coalition for Adult Immunization with the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. For the following two decades, she pursued a career in biodefense and national security in numerous roles and since 2014 has served with the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense in Washington, D.C. since 2014, and as its executive director since 2019. The Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense is a privately funded entity established in 2014 to provide a comprehensive assessment of the state of U.S. biodefense efforts, and to issue recommendations that will foster change. Through public meetings and other research, the Commission has identified systemic weaknesses in the national biodefense posture and recommended 33 steps the government can take to mitigate the threat.
During her career with the U.S. military and in national security, Dr. George has garnered numerous honors that include an Army Commendation Medal; two Army Achievement Medals; a National Defense Service Medal; a Southwest Asia Service Medal, Bronze Service Star; a Kuwait Liberation Medal; National Asian and Pacific American Organization Award for Service; Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) Scholarship; Letter of Appreciation, Office of Infrastructure Protection, Department of Homeland Security; Outstanding Indian American Achiever; Certificate of Appreciation, Illinois Emergency Management Agency; Certificate of Appreciation, Federal Bureau of Investigation; Award of Excellence, Associations [Advance] America; and an Immunizations Achievement Award given by the Healthcare Financing Administration.
Dr. George’s professional memberships include the American Public Health Association, Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, Association of Former Intelligence Officers, Military Intelligence Corps Association, the Military Officers Association of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Disasters and Emergencies, and the Steering Committee of the Pandemic Prevention and Biodefense Center. She is a past member of the review team of the Department of Homeland Security Agency of the Biden-Harris Transition Team.
Dr. George chose her current profession after being an intelligence officer in the U.S. Army. She realized at the time that the Army separates medical intelligence from every other form of intelligence. During her deployment in Desert Storm, her battalion officer sought her advice, as someone with a master’s degree in public health, on the possible presence of anthrax in Scud missiles from Saddam Hussein’s camp. The incident influenced her career path, as did her work on international health and disaster preparedness while pursuing her doctorate in public health and strong encouragement from the dean of the school of public health, who suggested that she combine her military intelligence and public health experiences.
As a career highlight, Dr. George cites her time as executive director for the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, where she developed the idea of separating the national biodefense strategy from the national defense strategy. She recommended grouping biodefense’s multiple, disorganized strategies so that all biodefense issues could be addressed in a coordinated, cohesive way. Dr. George entered the recommendation into a commission report, went to Capitol Hill and spoke to the Armed Services committees. Before long, Congress included her recommendation in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which President Obama signed and the Trump administration implemented.
In the coming years, Dr. George hopes to do whatever she can to help manage COVID-19 in her position at the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. She also intends to make sure that people understand intentional biological threats and take seriously the fact that there are countries that are blatantly open about their biological weapons program. Part of the plan is to develop government policies and programs to deal with biological threats. Furthermore, she wants to see better legislation from Congress, in conjunction with the administration, to strengthen the country’s weaknesses, especially when it comes to disease.
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