Dr. Rashid Chotani, Infectious Disease and Biodefense Expert, Promoted to IEM’s Medical Director
IEM, a leading emergency management and homeland security consulting firm established in 1985 and headquartered in Research Triangle Park, N.C., announced the promotion of Dr. Rashid Chotani as Medical Director. In this position Dr. Chotani will lead strategic research on science and technology and will oversee the company’s response to medical and chemical threat agents. Dr. Chotani has worked at IEM for over four years, previously serving as the company’s Senior Scientist.
“Rashid has done exceptional work to advance IEM’s public health and medical expertise and further the company’s initiatives to provide innovative solutions on pandemic planning and detection,” said IEM Founder, President and CEO Madhu Beriwal. “We look forward to working with him in this new role, where he can continue to apply his vast public health and medical expertise to assist our public and private sector clients.”
As IEM’s Medical Director, he will be responsible for executing the development of scientific and public health programs to advance the company’s planning and response capabilities to infectious diseases, chemical agents, and ongoing efforts to assist with the COVID-19 pandemic. In this new role at IEM, Dr. Chotani will work to advance the company’s mission to build a safe, secure, and resilient world.
“I am excited to take on the role of Medical Director at IEM,” said Dr. Chotani. “I look forward to continuing to serve the company and provide leadership in the fields of public health. I am honored to be a part of IEM’s talented team and to advance emergency management and preparedness across the country and the world, especially in response to the current health crisis.”
Dr. Chotani is recognized as an expert in the identification, surveillance, and diagnosis of human and zoonotic infectious diseases, such as brucellosis, anthrax, plague, and hemorrhagic and viral diseases, such as the Coronavirus. His expertise has been applied to develop ground-breaking research and development programs as well as advance the creation of vaccines and diagnostics for chemical and biological threats. In response to COVID-19, Dr. Chotani applied his research to antibody testing to help efforts to develop a vaccine for the virus. His work on Coronavirus antibody tests has been featured in numerous publications and outlets such as Nature, Fox News, and Health Central.
“Rashid is renowned in his field and has done great work to advance IEM’s capabilities in public health and bioterrorism,” said Bryan Koon, IEM’s Vice President of Emergency Management & Homeland Security. “We are excited to have him take on the leadership role of Medical Director, in which he can continue to apply his expertise and help guide IEM’s response and recovery efforts in support of COVID-19.”
Dr. Chotani has held various leadership positions in science and technology throughout his long career. Prior to joining IEM in 2016, he served as a professor in the Department of Epidemiology at University of Nebraska Medical Center. He managed the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s (DTRA) Joint Science & Technology Office (JSTO) multi-million-dollar portfolio of applied research and development projects focused on developing Federal Drug Administration (FDA)-compliant medical counter measure (MCM) vaccines and therapeutics. He also established and managed the Medical Surveillance Systems and Medical Effects Modeling Thrust Areas program as a senior scientist, which is currently the second largest division at JSTO. He served as the Chief Scientist for the Joint Project Manager Chemical and Biological Medical Systems, managing a $500 million, multi-year program for MCM advanced development and establishing the bio-surveillance program with a focus on bio-threat agents. Earlier in his career, working for the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Dr. Chotani developed the HL-7 Specifications for the Electronic Laboratory-Based Reporting of Public Health Information. This is now a standard used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to guide the sharing of laboratory findings to the appropriate government agencies across local, state, and federal levels.
Dr. Chotani’s success in the academic field includes establishing and directing the Global Infectious Disease Surveillance and Alert System (GIDSAS) at Johns Hopkins University, where he served as an Assistant Professor at the School of Medicine and Public Health. At the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratories he was part of the team that designed the first Early Detection of Bioterrorism System that became operational as ESSENCE at DoD. Components of ESSENCE are still being used in BioSense at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Chotani earned his MD from the Eugenio Maria de Hostos School of Medicine and holds a Master’s of Public Health in Epidemiology and Biostatistics & International Health from Johns Hopkins. He is based in IEM’s Washington, D.C. office.
Public and private sector healthcare and emergency management providers interested in learning more Dr. Chotani’s research on COVID-19 or IEM’s COVID-19 modeling efforts, please contact IEM at covid19response@iem.com.