As an Associate Professor of Environmental, Agricultural, and Occupational Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health, Mr. Lowe teaches CPH 500 Foundations of Public Health as well as the ENV 970 Doctoral Seminar in Environmental Health. In addition, his research areas of focus are in infectious disease microbiology, disaster preparedness, and environmental exposure assessment.

More specifically, Mr. Lowe's core focus is on remediation of biological weapon contamination, highly infectious patient transport, nosocomial environmental contamination, environmental sampling, and gaseous decontamination. This includes source evaluation, source tracking, and decontamination methods to reduce exposure. His research utilizes a wide array of research techniques including molecular biology, environmental microbiology, bioinformatics, and training assessment.

Mr. Lowe has a long history of ongoing projects in a wide range of environmental health topics from decontamination, highly infectious patient care, community-acquired pneumonia, as well as public health and healthcare disaster preparedness.

Specialties: Mr. Lowe has been training in the fields of epidemiology, molecular virology, environmental & occupational health, and disaster preparedness. His accomplishments and activities have established his skillset, which includes: advanced viral and bacterial molecular laboratory methods, field research methods, scientific writing, public speaking, strategic planning, group facilitation, and project management. 

Dr. Macgregor-Skinner has more than 25 years of technical experience in emergency management and infectious disease surveillance and response and has worked with the U.S. and international governments, United Nations agencies, and the private sector in the U.S., Africa, Asia, Middle East, and Latin America. He is an assistant professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Penn State Hershey College of Medicine and Director of Global Disaster Response for the BIDMC Fellowship in Disaster Medicine affiliated with Harvard Medical School.

He has appeared on CNN, BBC, Canada CTV, Australia ABC, C-SPAN, and other news outlets to share his expertise on Ebola, Influenza, Measles, Cholera, Zika outbreaks, and other global health threats. After serving in the Australian and British militaries, he was selected by the U.K. Department for International Development for its Associate Professional Officer Scheme. He learned epidemiology as an epidemic intelligence service officer at the U.S. CDC and was a global health fellow at USAID. His passion is engaging networks of experts who share knowledge and experiences to risk the global understanding of risk and safety.

Ms. Patricia (Patty) Olinger is the Executive Director of GBAC, the Global Biorisk Advisory Council, a division of ISSA. GBAC is recognized as a leader in training, education, and certification in Forensic Restoration®, Biorisk management, decontamination, and infection/contamination control disciplines. 

Patty has been a champion of international Biorisk management quality programs and standards development for many years. From the conception of the international CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) 15793 in the early 2000s to the new international standard ISO 35001:2019; Biorisk Management for Laboratories and Other Related Organizations. She is the current ISO Convener for ISO TC212- WG5 that developed the new standard.

Previous to joining ISSA-GBAC, Patty was an Assistant Vice President in the Office of Research Administration and the Executive Director of the Environmental, Health and Safety Office (EHSO) at Emory University. During her 13-year tenure, EHSO had University-wide responsibility for all aspects of
Environmental, Health, and Safety support, including EHS compliance support to Emory Healthcare. This included Biosafety support to the Emory Serious Communicable Diseases Unit (SCDU), which cared for 4 Ebola patients in 2014.

Prior to joining Emory in 2006, Patty spent 21 years in the Pharmaceutical Industry, providing support to both human and animal health research, developing a true OneHealth perspective. From 2013-2018, Patty supported the Elizabeth R. Griffin Foundation (ERGF), as both a board member and leading initiatives on global Biorisk management obtaining practical experience with staff and facilities in extremely low resource environments worldwide.

Over the years Patty has served on several councils and committees including;

• The External Laboratory Safety Working Group to the Director of CDC
• The APLU/AAU Laboratory Safety Taskforce
• The American Biological Safety Association (ABSA)
• The Scientific Advisory Board member of the U.S. NIH National Biosafety and Biocontainment Training Program (NBBTP)
• Past President and council member of the Campus Safety Health and Environmental Management Association (CSHEMA)

Ms. Olinger is a Registered Biosafety Professional, a Certified Forensic Operator, a Certified Bio-Forensic Restoration Specialist, has a BS in Biochemistry, and a Masters of Law with a focus on International Global Health. Patty has a true passion for Global Health Biorisk Preparedness, Response, and Recovery.