ABOUT BARDA

Gary L. Disbrow, Ph.D. is the Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), within the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Dr. Disbrow joined BARDA in January of 2007 and has held a variety of positions related to the advanced development and procurement of medical countermeasures against an array of threats to national security and public health. Prior to becoming the Acting BARDA Director, Dr. Disbrow served as Deputy Assistant Secretary (ASPR) and the Medical Countermeasures Program Director. In October 2013, Dr. Disbrow was named Acting Director of the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Division and was subsequently named the Director of the Division in December of 2014. During that time, the CBRN Division built a robust pipeline of candidate products under advanced research and development. In 2014 and 2015, Dr. Disbrow was identified as the Ebola Incident Coordinator for BARDA and worked closely with the BARDA Director on funding needs, development of candidate products, and was the primary liaison for BARDA across the Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise (PHEMCE). These efforts led to the first licensed Ebola vaccine, ERVEBO licensed in December 2019.

Prior to joining BARDA, Dr. Disbrow was an Assistant Professor of Oncology and Pathology at Georgetown Medical Center where he worked on human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines and therapeutics. Dr. Disbrow has previously worked at W.R. Grace, Kodak, and Genecor.

April Brys, Ph.D. is the Acting Deputy Director and Director of Medical Countermeasures Program Support Services (MCPSS) for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and directs BARDA's Nonclinical Division (NCD), Division of Clinical Development (DCD), and its Regulatory and Quality Affairs Division (RQA). Collectively, these divisions, their networks, programs, and subject-matter experts, support the advanced development of life-saving drugs, vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and medical devices to mitigate chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats, pandemic influenza and emerging infectious diseases through collaborations with industry partners and colleagues across the U.S. government. Dr. Brys also oversees BARDA's internal operations including all workforce related areas such as recruitment and non-recruitment actions, recognition awards, training, and travel.

Dr. Brys joined BARDA in 2020 as the Director of the Division of Nonclinical Development leading the coordination, oversight, and execution of the critical path nonclinical efforts supporting BARDA's medical countermeasure enterprise. Prior to joining BARDA, Dr. Brys held various positions focused on advancing development of medical countermeasures including as the Vice President of the Drug Development Division at Southern Research and the Director of the Clinical and Nonclinical Business Unit for Battelle.

Robert Johnson, Ph.D. is the Director of Medical Countermeasures Programs (MCMP) for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), within the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As the MCMP Director, Dr. Johnson overseas the MCM development efforts across BARDA. In this role, Dr. Johnson has a focus on incorporating new technologies that can provide a faster pandemic response across multiple threat areas, as well as new partnerships and approaches to ensure sustainment of current and future capabilities.

Dr. Johnson joined BARDA in November of 2017 as Director of the Influenza & Emerging Infectious Diseases Division (IEIDD). In this position, Dr. Johnson led efforts focused on advanced development and manufacturing capacity of medical countermeasures against pandemic influenza and emerging infectious diseases.
In January 2020, Dr. Johnson was named BARDA's Incident Commander for the COVID-19 Response and was responsible for establishing BARDA's initial COVID-19 vaccine, therapeutic, and diagnostics portfolio. Under Operation Warp Speed, and later the Countermeasures Acceleration Group (CAG), Dr. Johnson worked closely with HHS-DOD Leadership and product developers to facilitate rapid clinical development, regulatory authorization, and large-scale manufacturing of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. From July through December 2021 Dr. Johnson was detailed as Chief Operating Officer of the CAG. In this role, Dr. Johnson managed the procurement and nation-wide distribution of all adult and pediatric COVID-19 vaccines. Dr. Johnson managed the successful transition of the CAG responsibilities to the HHS Coordination Operations and Response Element (H-CORE) when he returned to BARDA as the Director of Medical Countermeasures Programs.

Joffrey Benford oversees the execution of approximately $1.7 billion in spends annually and the facilitation of a contract portfolio valued at over $60 Billion as the Director of BARDA's Division of Contracts Management and Acquisitions (CMA), which is responsible for providing executive advice and contracting management of all BARDA acquisitions.
Before starting his career in federal service, Mr. Benford spent close to five years in the financial services industry with various multinational organizations. He joined the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) in 2013 as a contracting officer and later matriculating into a branch chief, where he managed Advanced Development and Manufacturing contracts valued at over $1.5 billion including options. He also served as the Contracting Officer responsible for administering BARDA's Embryonated Egg Supply contract with a net value well over $42 million.

As a Branch Chief, he provided support to numerous commercial and U.S. government clients in developing vaccines against and therapeutics for pandemic and seasonal influenza and emerging infectious diseases.

Rodney Wallace joined BARDA in 2009 as part of the newly formed diagnostics function within the Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear Division (CBRN). Development of diagnostic and device countermeasures were combined into a focused division in 2014. DDDI leads the development of diagnostic and device countermeasures for CBRN, Pandemic Influenza, and Emerging Infectious Disease. Mr. Wallace led BARDA's diagnostic response during multiple public health emergencies including Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19. BARDA funded partners have received 32 FDA clearances or approvals and 41 EUAs for countermeasures developed under his leadership. Mr. Wallace and team are recipients of three HHS Secretary's Awards for medical countermeasure development.
Prior to joining BARDA, Mr. Wallace held executive positions with companies that develop and manufacture clinical diagnostic and microarray platforms including Digene, which is now part of Qiagen, and NimbleGen Systems, now part of Roche. He worked for nine years in the diagnostics division of Abbott Laboratories developing large clinical diagnostics systems. He has experience developing electro-optical equipment for industrial, transportation, aviation, and military applications. Mr. Wallace holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University.

Chris Houchens, Ph.D. is the Director of the Division of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Countermeasures (CBRN). His primary role is building and managing a diverse product portfolio focused on the advanced research, development, and procurement of novel vaccines, prophylactics, therapeutics, diagnostics and devices as medical countermeasures against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats. In this role, Dr. Houchens conducts outreach with industry to identify new partnership opportunities and participates on numerous interagency working groups across the U.S. government with the goal of strengthening the ability and capacity of the U.S. to rapidly respond to naturally occurring and intentionally engineered threats to public health.

David Simon, Ph.D. is the inaugural Medical Countermeasures Preparedness and Response Director within the Office of Medical Countermeasures Program. In this role, Dr. Simon leads BARDA response efforts and is responsible for improving BARDA's future response posture, in part by informing medical countermeasure development through the lens of national response needs. Dr. Simon's responsibilities also include Deputy Director of Project NextGen, a joint BARDA and NIAID initiative aimed at accelerating the development of next-generation vaccines, therapeutics, and technologies through public-private collaborations. Dr. Simon's role as Medical Countermeasures Preparedness and Response Director is a key component of BARDA's work within the Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise (PHEMCE), contributing to the nation's preparedness and enhancing the nation's ability to respond to known and unknown threats.

Dr. Simon has served within BARDA for nearly a decade, working in multiple branches in the Division of Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Medical Countermeasures (CBRN) and leading multiple COVID-19 vaccine development activities as part of the COVID-19 public health emergency response, including the USG PCT lead for both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccine development efforts. Additionally, he was the Operations Rollout Coordinator for the national 2022 fall COVID-19 booster dose campaign. Dr. Simon has worked as a Senior Director for Project Management within start-up biotech, and before his experiences at BARDA, Dr. Simon held various positions as a Science and Engineering Technical Assistant within the Department of Defense and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

April Brys, Ph.D. is the Acting Deputy Director and Director of Medical Countermeasures Program Support Services (MCPSS) for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and directs BARDA's Nonclinical Division (NCD), Division of Clinical Development (DCD), and its Regulatory and Quality Affairs Division (RQA). Collectively, these divisions, their networks, programs, and subject-matter experts, support the advanced development of life-saving drugs, vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and medical devices to mitigate chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats, pandemic influenza and emerging infectious diseases through collaborations with industry partners and colleagues across the U.S. government. Dr. Brys also oversees BARDA's internal operations including all workforce related areas such as recruitment and non-recruitment actions, recognition awards, training, and travel.

Dr. Brys joined BARDA in 2020 as the Director of the Division of Nonclinical Development leading the coordination, oversight, and execution of the critical path nonclinical efforts supporting BARDA's medical countermeasure enterprise. Prior to joining BARDA, Dr. Brys held various positions focused on advancing development of medical countermeasures including as the Vice President of the Drug Development Division at Southern Research and the Director of the Clinical and Nonclinical Business Unit for Battelle.

Bill Kapogiannis, MD is the Director of the Division of Clinical Development (DCD). In this role, Dr. Kapogiannis brings his extensive experience in developing and providing safety oversight for drug treatment studies. He joined BARDA and DCD in 2023 from the NIH where he led clinical research programs there for more than 18 years. Most recently he served as: The Acting NIH Associate Director for AIDS Research and the Acting Director of the NIH Office of AIDS Research (OAR) in the NIH Office of the Director, The Scientific Director and Medical Officer for the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions in the Maternal and Pediatric Infectious Diseases Branch and NIH's National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and The Executive Secretary for and Editor of the Guidelines on the Management of Opportunistic Infections in HIV-Exposed and Infected children for DHHS.

Ashim Subedee is the Acting Director of the Division of Research, Innovation, and Ventures (DRIVe) and the Director of the DRIVe Catalyst Office at the Biomedical Research & Development Authority (BARDA), within the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). Ashim leads a team dedicated to fostering health security innovation ecosystem and development and commercialization of next-generation health security technologies through several novel public private partnerships. These include multiple R&D funding programs through BARDA Ventures – a venture capital investment partnership and the BARDA Accelerator Network – partnerships to provide accelerator services and proof of concept funding. Prior to BARDA, Ashim was at the NIH where he supported biomedical entrepreneurship and product development by both academic and small business innovators at the NCI Small Business Development Center, NIH Small Business Education and Entrepreneurial Development (SEED) Office, and the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) program. Ashim joined the federal government as a Presidential Management Fellow and worked at multiple programs across the NIH and at the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). He received his PhD in Biological and Biomedical Sciences with a secondary concentration on Science, Technology, and Society from Harvard University.

Mike Angelastro has served at BARDA for more than 15 years and is currently the Director of the Pharmaceutical Countermeasures Infrastructure Division (PCI). In this role he oversees the Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization Network Branch, the Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Partnership Branch, and the Pandemic Vaccine Preparedness and Readiness Branch in support of the ASPR/BARDA mission. Mr. Angelastro's work centers on engagement with stakeholders and key industry performers to ensure policy and tactical alignment, as well as leading a team of program officials and subject matter experts that oversee a multi-billion dollar portfolio of strategic investments to strengthen the nation's medical countermeasure manufacturing industrial base.

John Rigg is the Director of Management Operations. In this capacity he was the operations lead for BARDA's COVID-19 response and worked as an essential component of the interagency team – formerly known as Operation Warp Speed -- developing vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for the COVID-19 pandemic. In his current capacity he is responsible for leadership and management of BARDA's operations pertaining to internal and external communications, data management and analysis, strategic planning, budget planning and execution, partner company engagement, and congressional and audit engagement. Prior to his work at BARDA, John served in senior management roles within the immediate office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, as acting Chief of Staff at Indian Health Service, and was the Director of the Office of Policy Analysis at the Health Resources and Services Administration.

Kimberly Armstrong, Ph.D. is the Director of the Influenza & Emerging Infectious Diseases Division (IEIDD). IEIDD primarily focuses on preparing for the next influenza pandemic by modernizing influenza vaccines, developing new therapeutics for the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome, advancing the development of pre-exposure prophylaxis options to protect the most vulnerable populations, and managing the National Pre-pandemic Influenza Vaccine Stockpile (NPIVS).

Prior to becoming the Division Director in 2023, Dr. Armstrong was the Chief of the Therapeutics Branch within IEIDD. Her work as Branch Chief focused on testing antivirals for the treatment of hospitalized influenza infections and eventually pivoting the focus of the severe infections program from antivirals to host-directed therapeutics. In addition, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Armstrong led the Therapeutics team to achieve Emergency Use Authorizations for 10 therapeutics and to procure millions of treatment courses of COVID-19 antivirals and distribution nationwide. Before joining BARDA in 2015 as a Project Officer, Dr. Armstrong managed a regulatory science research portfolio for the Office of Counterterrorism and Emerging Threats at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).