Leadership in Biosafety and Biosecurity Award

His career at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) began in 1978, and since then, he has consistently been at the forefront of biosafety and biopreparedness efforts. Iwen has held a longstanding appointment as Biosafety Officer for the entire UNMC campus and has served as either a Responsible Official or Alternate Responsible Official for the UNMC Select Agent Program since 2002. His vision and leadership were critical in developing a framework to prepare the lab for high-consequence pathogens and public health emergencies. 

Iwen has played an essential role in responding to emerging infectious diseases, ensuring that safety remains a top priority while managing high-risk pathogens under intense pressure. For example, during the 2014 Ebola outbreak, Iwen led critical biosafety efforts for the safe handling and testing of the virus, and he became a leader in shipment of confirmed select agents.

His expertise in managing biosafety protocols has been crucial in the safe handling, testing and shipping of potentially dangerous samples. Iwen has spearheaded important conversations with federal entities concerning the shipping, handling, and documentation of confirmed select agents. He is leading national conversations about the labs within the newly-developed Regional Ebola and Other Special Pathogen Treatment Centers, focusing on how these interact and overlap with the Laboratory Response Network. These efforts are vital to ensuring a cohesive national response to emerging infectious diseases—improving coordination among public health laboratories and, ultimately, strengthening the nation's biosafety infrastructure. 

Iwen's career reflects a deep commitment to advancing the science of biosafety and biosecurity through collaborative efforts, consistent innovation, and an unwavering dedication to public health. We thank him for his outstanding contributions to the field, his role in shaping biosafety and biosecurity practices at UNMC and on the national stage, and his lasting impact on the safety and success of countless research endeavors.​

Liddicoat began her career as an industrial hygienist for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection in 2013, where she developed health and safety policies for employees who were working at a reservoir, and on water and sewer lines. In 2016, she became the acting chief of health and safety and biosafety officer for the New York City Public Health Laboratory, and in 2018 she was promoted to chief of health and safety. In this role, she was responsible for addressing safety in New York City hospital clinical laboratories and in the New York City Public Health Laboratories by providing training, performing competency assessments, and ensuring Bureau-wide compliance with all safety regulations.

In 2019, Liddicoat became an industrial hygiene consultant at the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health and in 2020 she became the Biosafety Officer overseeing safety aspects of that laboratory’s renovation. She has been an active member of the APHL Biosafety and Biosecurity Committee since 2019. She is a member of ABSA and has led a number of presentations on APHL and ABSA calls, webinars and conferences regarding her experience with laboratory renovations and construction. She has devoted her career to improving biosafety and biosecurity to help make the world a safer place to live and is very deserving of this award.

In her current role as adjunct professor in the University of South Florida College of Public Health DrPH program and her previous role at the Florida Department of Health Bureau of Public Health Laboratories, Gillis has brought the concepts of laboratory safety to the forefront in all her work. Gillis is a graduate of the University of South Alabama, where she received her bachelors in biology and a doctoral degree. Gillis became the director of the Florida Bureau of Public Health Laboratories—Miami in 2010 and prior to that was the director of Florida Bureau of Public Health Laboratories—Pensacola.

Anglewicz is the Biosafety Officer and State Training Coordinator at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Laboratories. In this role, she has spent countless hours performing and teaching others how to perform risk assessments and develop biosafety plans to assure that all Michigan laboratories can safely handle, test for and dispose of highly infectious agents. Anglewicz has helped develop a number of training tools and resources to help clinical laboratories handle and work with suspect SARS-CoV-2 positive specimens safely. In addition to her training duties, Anglewicz serves as an Alternate Responsible Official for the bureau of laboratories’ Select Agent Program.

Anglewicz is a member of APHL’s Biosafety and Biosecurity Committee and serves on the APHL Sentinel Laboratory Partnerships and Outreach Subcommittee. She is a natural leader and devoted teacher and mentor, powered by a sincere desire to help create a safer and healthier world for us all.

Weirich’s current position with DLS involves confirming compliance of training materials with federal regulatory requirements, creating competency assessment tools, overseeing and monitoring safety trainings and programs to ensure scientific and technical accuracy, and performing scientific and technical critiques. Throughout the COVID-19 response, she has helped review, revise and update biosafety content and guidance for CDC’s COVID and DLS webpages (for laboratories), and has addressed questions about biosafety from public health and clinical labs, as well as the general public. She provides biosafety expertise for development, review and updates for DLS laboratory biosafety training courses and videos for CDC and public distribution.

Weirich has been a longtime member and contributor to APHL and other professional biosafety organizations such as the Association for Biosafety and Biosecurity (ABSA), American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI). She currently serves on several committees and workgroups—including the CDC Laboratory Safety Training Board, the CLSI safe work practices team and the Eagleson Executive Steering Committee for the 16th annual CDC International Biosafety Symposium—and is a CDC representative for the national Biosafety and Biosecurity Committee through APHL. Weirich is an ABSA co-instructor and was previously a lead inspector in the national CDC Select Agent Program, a laboratory biosafety advisor/instructor in Singapore, Brazil and Kenya and the Laboratory Response Network, and served as co-chair of ABSA’s Training & Education and Curriculum Development Committees.

Weirich co-authored the BMBL 5th and 6th Editions and was a key author for the 2012 MMWR Biosafety Guidelines for Safe Work Practices in Human and Animal Medical Diagnostic Laboratories Guidelines. She has been a subject matter expert (SME) biosafety reviewer for the WHO 4th edition Laboratory Biosafety Manual, the ASM Biosafety Guidelines for Clinical Laboratories and numerous APHL projects, such as the Clinical Lab Preparedness and Response Guide and the Biothreat Benchcards. During the 2014-2015 Ebola public health emergency, she was a designated SME for CDC’s Emergency Operations Center and their Ebola Preparedness Team to provide national and comprehensive clinical laboratory and biosafety support for the domestic State Readiness Program, and, as the lead on the CDC Rapid Ebola Preparedness and Readiness Assessment Teams, she trained public health department staff to prepare for and respond to Ebola.