Integrated Research Facility Leadership and Scientists

Personnel at the Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick (IRF-Frederick) work in a collaborative manner within and between teams and with external partners and affiliates.

IRF-Frederick Leadership

Connie Schmaljohn, Ph.D.

Director, Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick
Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR)

Dr. Connie Schmaljohn was selected and became Director, IRF-Frederick in November 2019. Prior to that time, she was Senior Research Scientist for Medical Defenses Against Infectious Disease Threats and directed a research program at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). Dr. Schmaljohn earned a B.S. degree in microbiology from the University of Nebraska and a...

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Ian Crozier, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer
Medical Affairs Scientist
(Contractor)

As chief medical officer, Dr. Crozier provides support to bridge the human clinical bedside and animal models of emerging high-threat infectious diseases. He is an infectious diseases clinician-scientist who brings extensive experience at the Ebola virus disease outbreak bedside, including in ongoing clinical research efforts in Western Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Dr. Crozier...

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Sarah L. Donahue, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Associate Director for Management and Operations

Dr. Donahue has been in her current role at the IRF-Frederick since 2021. She has extensive experience as a senior civilian leader with the U.S. Army, most recently having served as the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army Medical Research and Development Command at Fort Detrick, overseeing the operational management of the Army’s medical research and development organization since 2015. Prior to...

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Mike Holbrook, Ph.D.

Associate Director for High Containment

Dr. Holbrook has been working in biocontainment research for more than 20 years with recognized expertise in biocontainment facilities, resources, and research management. Dr. Holbrook has a broad research portfolio with practical research experience working with arenaviruses, bunyaviruses, filoviruses, flaviviruses, and henipaviruses. His research interests include viral pathogenesis, viral...

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Travis K. Warren, Ph.D.

Operations Director
(Contractor)

With over 20 years of experience conducting and leading infectious disease research, Dr. Warren’s data from nonclinical studies have contributed to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals of tecoviromat for treatment of smallpox and remdesivir for treatment of SARS-CoV-2. He specializes in animal rule regulatory model characterizations and therapeutic development for highly infectious...

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Scientific and Technical Services

Jens H. Kuhn, M.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., M.S.

Principal Scientist
Director of Virology
(Contractor)

Education:

M.S. (Biochemistry), 1999, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Ph.D. (Medical Sciences), 2003, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
M.D. (Human Medicine), 2004, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Ph.D. (Biochemistry), 2008, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Languages Spoken: German, Mandarin, French

Dr. Kuhn specializes in highly virulent Risk Group 3/4 viruses. He focuses on in vitro and in vivo pathogenesis and viral characterization studies, medical countermeasure development and efficacy evaluation, clinical trial support, biological arms control and threat reduction, international bioengagement and capacity building, and general RNA virus discovery, diversity, phylogeny, and taxonomy.

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Venkatesh Mani, Ph.D.

Principal Scientist
Director of Imaging and Maximum Containment
(Contractor)

Dr. Mani Dr. Mani joined the IRF-Frederick in 2021. Prior to that, he was a senior faculty member in the Department of Radiology and the Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Institute (BMEII) of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. There he leveraged his deep technical expertise to lead the Institute efforts in cardiovascular disease clinical drug trials including multi-modality...

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Marisa St. Claire, D.V.M., M.S., Diplomate ACLAM

Chief Veterinarian

Dr. St. Claire oversees the Comparative Medicine Program, including all aspects of animal care and use. She is board-certified by the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (ACLAM) and has over 20 years of experience conducting infectious disease research using animal models for NIAID.

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Michele Di Mascio, Ph.D.

Chief, AIDS Imaging Research

Dr. Di Mascio is the Chief of the AIDS Imaging Research Section of the Integrated Research Facility and the Chief of the Mathematical Biology Section of the Biostatistics Research Branch at the Division of Clinical Research of NIAID. After his postdoctoral research work at the Theoretical Division of the Los Alamos National Laboratory of Los Alamos, New Mexico, he moved to NIH (in 2003), where he...

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