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Pat Smith Appointed to New Panel of the TBDWG
Patricia V. Smith, has been appointed as one of the public members of the new panel for Health and Human Services Tick-Borne Disease Working Group (TBDWG). Pat is in her 22 year as President of the all-volunteer run national non-profit Lyme Disease Association (LDA) and has been a leading voice and advocate for patients for over 3 decades. She was instrumental in writing and passing the legislation that resulted in the formation of this federally mandated TBDWG. This appointment was announced publicly during the first meeting of the new TBDWG on June, 4, 2019.
As witnessed during the meeting, Pat will continue to be the voice of the patient and the growing numbers of chronically ill. The panel convened for introductions, to hear public comment, and to develop subcommittee topics and establish subcommittee chairs to begin the work toward the next report to Congress due November of 2020. Unlike last term, nomination for subcommittee members will not be publicly solicited, but will be selected by the prospective co-chairs for each of the 7 subcommittees determined at the meeting.
Pat served on the inaugural panel of the TBDWG, which presented it’s first report to Congress in November of 2018. She is joined for a second term by other returning members:
Charles Benjamin (Ben) Beard, Ph.D.-Deputy Director, Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
Dennis M. Dixon, Ph.D.-Chief, Bacteriology and Mycology Branch, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
Captain Estella Jones, DVM– Deputy Director, Office of Counterterrorism and Emerging Threats, Food and Drug Administration
Other new public and federal members and their alternates were also announced at the first meeting of the new TBDWG panel, which took place June 4, 2019 in Washington DC, and include:
Public Members
The new Working Group will be chaired by David Hughes Walker, M.D., Professor of Pathology and Executive Director, University of Texas Medical Branch Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases. He is an expert in Rickettsial diseases, particularly RMSF; and Leigh Ann Soltysiak, Owner, Principal, Silverleaf Consulting, LLC.
Robert Sabatino– Founder and Executive Director, Lyme Society Inc., Staten Island, New York (Term expires in August 2019).
Scott Palmer Commins BS, M.D., Ph.D.– Associate Professor of Medicine & Pediatrics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Member, UNC Food Allergy Initiative, Thurston Research Center (Chapel Hill, North Carolina)
Sam T. Donta, M.D.– Infectious Disease Consultant, Falmouth Hospital; and Former Member, U.S. Department of Defense Tick Borne Disease Research Programmatic Review Panel (Falmouth, Massachusetts)
Eugene David Shapiro, M.D.– Professor of Pediatrics, Epidemiology, and Investigative Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine; Vice Chair for Research of the Department of Pediatrics; Co-Director of Education for the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation; and Deputy Director of Yale’s PhD Program in Investigative Medicine (New Haven, Connecticut)
Regular Government Employees (Federal Members)
Commander Rebecca Bunnell, MPAS, PA-C– Senior Advisor, Learning and Diffusion Group, Innovation Center, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Angel M. Davey, Ph.D.– Program Manager, Tick-Borne Disease Research Program, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, U.S. Department of Defense
Leith Jason States, M.D., MPH (FMF)– Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Adalberto (Beto) Pérez de León, M.D.– Director, Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Alternate Government Employees (Federal Members)
Chien-Chung Chao, Ph.D.– Research Chemist, Viral and Rickettsial Diseases Department Infectious Diseases Directorate, Naval Medical Research Center, U.S. Department of Defense
Captain Scott J. Cooper, MMSc, PA-C- Senior Technical Advisor and Lead Officer for Medicare Hospital Health and Safety Regulations, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Shahla Jilani, M.D.-Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
David A. Leiby, Ph.D.-Chief, Product Review Branch, Division of Emerging & Transfusion-Transmitted Diseases, Office of Blood Research & Review, Center for Biologics Evaluation & Research, Food and Drug Administration
Commander Todd Myers, Ph.D.-Scientist, Office of the Chief Scientist, Office of Counter Terrorism and Emerging Threats, Food and Drug Administration
Samuel S. Perdue, Ph.D.-Section Chief, Basic Sciences and Program Officer, Rickettsial and Related Diseases, Bacteriology and Mycology Branch, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), National Institutes of Health
Susanna N. Visser, Dr.PH -Associate Director for Policy, Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
HHS TBDWG Members Press release