Biosafety & BiocontainmentTraining

Faculty biographies

RICHARD J. GREEN, MSc, CTM

Richard Green is the Curriculum Development Director for the Frontline Healthcare Workers Safety Foundation in Atlanta, GA. He is a nationally known speaker and author with more than three dozen manuals, articles, scientific papers, books and other media to his credit. He is a Certified Training Manager with thirty years experience in training development and presentation techniques, and twenty five years experience in biosafety and laboratory safety. Mr Green retired from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2005 after 32 years of Federal service, the last 17 of which were served as the Safety Training Manager for the Office of Health and Safety at CDC. In this capacity he developed safety training materials including manuals, videotapes, CDs, job aids, posters, and calendars for distribution to CDC employees and laboratorians around the nation and the world. Most recently, Mr Green was the Laboratory Training Manager & Biosafety Officer at theGeorgia State Public Health Laboratory in Decatur, GA. where he planned and budgeted for the development and implementation of safety and health training for Georgia state public health workers. 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 laboratory safety, biosafety, bioterrorism, risk assessment, and packaging and shipping. Mr. Green received a 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 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 the 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.

CHRISTOPHER J. WOOLVERTON, Ph.D.

Christopher J. Woolverton, PhD is Professor of Environmental Health Sciences in the College of Public Health at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio; and serves as the Director of the Kent State University Center for Public Health Preparedness. He is also on the Graduate Faculty of the School of Biomedical Sciences, the Department of Biological Sciences (both at Kent State), and is on the hospital faculty of the Cooperative Medical Technology Program of Akron, OH. Woolverton received his graduate training in Medical Microbiology from West Virginia University School of Medicine. He spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow studying cellular immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Woolverton has received additional training in Biological Safety, Security and Policy Analysis from MIT and Emory University and pandemic planning from the University of Albany. Woolverton’s research is focused on the detection and control of bacterial pathogens. He has been at Kent State since 1995.

Woolverton is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education, the pedagogical journal of the American Society for Microbiology. He is a member of several societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society for Microbiology, Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, the American Biological Safety Association, and the Association of Public Health Laboratories. He is a contributor to numerous publications and abstracts and serves as an ad hoc reviewer for microbiology related journals and

funding agencies, has six issued patents, and is the co-author of Prescott’s Microbiology. He is an international lecturer on liquid crystal biosensors. Woolverton has served on the City of Kent Board of Health since 2005.

The Center for Public Health Preparedness develops and delivers education and training materials to support the public health infrastructure. It also manages a state-of-the-art biosafety level (BSL) 3 training laboratory for the education of public health and clinical laboratory workers. The BSL-3 lab is a designated training facility of the NIH National Biosafety and Biocontainment Training Program.