Dr. Asher is a graduate of Harvard College and the Harvard Medical School.  He is a diplomate of the American Board of Pediatrics and a member of the American Society for Virology, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Society for Pediatric Research.  Dr. Asher joined the Food and Drug Administration in 1995 after working for more than 25 years in the Laboratory of Central Nervous System Studies at the National Institutes of Health, where he conducted research on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and other infectious diseases.  He now the Chief and Supervisory Medical Officer in the Laboratory of Bacterial, Parasitic and Unconventional Agents within FDA’s Division of Emerging and Transfusion-Transmitted Diseases, Office of Blood Research and Review, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER).  He participates in regulatory activities, serving on FDA-wide committees dealing with policy issues related to the spongiform encephalopathies and on similar committees in CBER and other FDA Centers.  He also participates in activities of the World Health Organization and has served as consultant to the Institute of Medicine ad hoc committee on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.

Dr. Coker is currently the Technical Director and Principal Scientist at Pall Corporation.  Dr. Coker received his Ph.D. in Clinical Pharmacology from St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College, University of London, England, in 1984.  Dr. Coker received postdoctoral training in Biophysics and Hematology (1984-1990) at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, where he was Assistant Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at the School of Medicine.  Dr. Coker is the author of nearly 30 publications.  His most recent work focuses on the removal of infectious prions from blood and blood components.

Dr. Eglin became Head of National Transfusion Microbiology for the UK National Blood Service in 2000.  He has served in the field of public health for 30 years, including positions as Head of Virology for the Leeds PHL and as a Clinical Scientist for the Oxford PHL.  He has been a Cancer Research Campaign Research Fellow with the Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research, Porton Down, Salisbury, and a Post Doctoral Fellow with the MRC Institute of Virology, University of Glasgow.  Dr. Eglin earned a B.Sc. degree in Medical Microbiology at the University of Dundee and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in General Virology at the University of Birmingham.  Dr. Eglin has published a number of articles on infectious disease, epidemiology and blood transfusion.

Dr. Ganz is Director of the Centre for Biologics Evaluation (CBE), Health Canada.  He received both his bachelor and doctoral degrees in Toronto.  As a Leukemia Society of America Fellow, he continued his postdoctoral training in the Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, working in the area of tumor virology.  His research interest in the biochemistry and molecular genetics of blood proteins moved him to Ottawa to take up an appointment as Research Director at the Ottawa Blood Centre, Canadian Red Cross Society (CRCS).  During his tenure at the CRCS, Dr. Ganz researched the molecular mechanisms of action of clotting and fibrinolytic factors and their interaction with platelets and human endothelial cells.  This research work evolved to include highly cited studies on the expression of pharmaceutically important proteins in transgenic plant systems.  Dr. Ganz moved to the Bureau of Drug Research at Health Canada in 1996 and then to the Bureau of Biologics and Radiopharmaceuticals as Chief of the Blood and Tissues Division.  In 2003, he became Director of the Biologics and Radiopharmaceuticals Evaluation Centre (BREC), which has evolved to the CBE.

Dr. Ganz has authored over 80 research articles and reviews and received international recognition for research including an International Thrombosis and Hemostasis Investigator Award.  Since 1982, he has held a cross appointment as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa as well as the School of Graduate Studies and Research.  Dr. Ganz contributes his expertise to a number of national and international committees, including the Canadian Standards Association Technical Committee developing National Blood Standards, and Committees of the World Health Organization, Council of Europe and United States Pharmacopoeia.

Laurie Garrett, named the first Gates Senior Fellow in Global Health by the Council on Foreign Relations, is one of America’s most distinguished science journalists.  The fellowship, made possible by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was created in recognition that global health issues now pose national security challenges unimaginable only a few years ago.  While at the Council, Garrett will complete a book on emerging diseases and global security and launch a project on global health issues such as HIV/AIDS, epidemic diseases and bioterrorism.  Garrett is the author of The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance (1994) and Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health (2000).

Garrett is the only person ever to have been awarded all three major journalism awards: The Peabody, The Polk (twice), and The Pulitzer.  She has also been honored three times by the Overseas Press Club of America.  In 1980, Garrett joined National Public Radio as a Science Correspondent, where she won numerous awards.  In 1992-93, Garrett attended Harvard University as a visiting fellow in the Harvard School of Public Health.  Most recently a medical and science writer for Newsday in New York City (1988-2004), Garrett is a frequent contributor to books and publications and appears regularly on national television. 

Dr. Ness is Director of the Transfusion Medicine Division at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Professor of Pathology, Medicine, and Oncology at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.  He was CEO and medical director of the Greater Chesapeake and Potomac Region of the American Red Cross Blood Services from 1983-1999.

Dr. Ness received his undergraduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his M.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo with extensive postgraduate work at Johns Hopkins, the University of California San Francisco, and the Irwin Memorial Blood Bank in San Francisco. He was also a staff associate in the Division of Blood Diseases and Resources of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Dr. Ness served as President of the AABB in 1999 and has served on the Board of Directors for many years.  He became editor of Transfusion in July 2003.  He has been a member of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists Board of Registry Blood Bank examination committee, the FDA Blood Products Advisory Committee, and consults for many commercial and non-profit organizations.  Dr. Ness has written over 150 articles and is a co-editor of two comprehensive texts in transfusion medicine.  He also has extensive experience in transfusion-related research.