Leadership
Director, Division of Select Agents and Toxins
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Samuel Edwin is the director of the Division of Select Agents and Toxins (DSAT) in the Office of Readiness and Response (ORR) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In this role, he oversees two regulatory programs—the Federal Select Agent Program and the Import Permit Program—to ensure that laboratory work with infectious biological agents and toxins is conducted as safely and securely as possible.
Dr. Edwin has worked in biomedical research for more than 30 years. Prior to his appointment as DSAT director, from 2008 to 2016 he served as the responsible official and biological surety officer for the Select Agent Program at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, MD. In this role, he was responsible for ensuring all laboratory work with biological select agents and toxins complied with federal regulations.
Before turning to program administration, Dr. Edwin conducted biomedical research with a focus on maternal-fetal medicine. He spent 12 years at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institute of Health (NIH) and another twelve years in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Utah Medical Center.
Dr. Edwin received his Ph.D. in physiology from Wayne State University School of Medicine, and his bachelor’s degree in zoology from Brigham Young University. He has authored or co-authored more than 150 scientific publications in peer-reviewed national and international journals.
Contact:
SEdwin@cdc.gov
404-718-2001
Director, Division of Agricultural Select Agents and Toxins
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Dr. Jack Taniewski is the Director of the Division of Agricultural Select Agents and Toxins (DASAT) at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Emergency and Regulatory Compliance Services (ERCS). In this role, he oversees the Federal Select Agent Program to ensure that laboratory work with infectious biological select agents and toxins complies with federal regulations and is conducted as safely and securely as possible.
Dr. Taniewski is a graduate of the Academy of Agriculture and Technology (Olsztyn, Poland) with more than 30 years of veterinary expertise. After several years in private practice, Dr. Taniewski joined the USDA in 1998, and APHIS in 2003. He has supported the USDA mission to provide leadership on agriculture issues through a variety of regulatory enforcement, policy development, and program administration roles, ranging from an Inspector in Charge with the Food Safety and Inspection Service to the Animal Export Director in Veterinary Services. Before his selection as the DASAT Director, Dr. Taniewski was the National Director for Live Animal Import/Export, leading the development of policies for international animal movement.
Contact:
Jacek.Taniewski@usda.gov
301-851-3352