Faculty of CBRN Education, Division of Disaster Medicine, Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at BIDMC. Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Georgetown School of Medicine | UNITED STATES

Dr. Shane Kappler is a dual board-certified Emergency Medicine Physician and Critical Care Medicine Physician. He holds faculty appointments as both an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Georgetown School of Medicine and as an Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the Georgetown School of Medicine. He completed residency training in Emergency Medicine at Georgetown University Hospital and Washington Hospital Center and subspecialty fellowship training in Critical Care Medicine at the University of Maryland. He works clinically as a Critical Care Medicine physician within the MedStar Health system where he also serves as the Director of Biothreats for MedStar Health as well as the Medical Director for the MedStar Biocontainment Unit for Special Pathogens and the federal HHS/ASPR Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center (RESPTC) in FEMA Region III. In addition to his clinical work, he is a faculty member in the Biohazardous Threat Agents and Emerging Infectious Diseases program within the Georgetown Graduate School of Arts and Sciences where he has taught a graduate course on Medical Preparedness, Response, and Capacity to biothreats for over a decade. He has lectured nationally and internationally on topics of bioterrorism, pandemics, preparedness, and disaster medicine. He has prior experience working with and consulting on projects for both state governments and the federal government. Separately, he has served as a medical manager for a FEMA USAR team. Dr. Kappler has a sustained history of experience in disaster preparedness. He previously held a faculty appointment at Harvard Medical School where he worked clinically as well as served as the Director of Disaster Preparedness for the Department of Emergency Medicine at CHA in Boston, MA. He continues to teach as Faculty for CBRN education for Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Fellowship in Disaster Medicine. During the COVID pandemic he held significant roles in his health system related to pandemic response which included serving and leading working groups and committees that investigated novel therapeutic approaches in treating COVID disease as well as implementing novel surge capacity approaches and strategies. He serves as a subject matter expert for NETEC and is involved in the development and expansion of the National Special Pathogen System (NSPS) for HCID care.

Dr. Shane B. Kappler, MD, MS MD, MBA, FACEP, FCCP | Faculty of CBRN Education, Division of Disaster Medicine, Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at BIDMC. Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Georgetown School of Medicine | UNITED STATES

David currently serves as principal owner for D2 Emergency Management Consulting, LLC and as faculty as the Director of Hazardous Materials Response, Division of Disaster Medicine, Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at BIDMC.

David DiGregorio served as the director for the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services Hazardous Materials Emergency Response/Special Operations Division from September of 2016 through April of 2023 after holding the position of deputy director for two years. He retired from the US Army and Massachusetts Army National Guard after 32 years of service in 2014. Amongst his duty assignments, David served as a non-commissioned and commissioned officer with the 1st Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Team in the positions of Medical NCO, Physician Assistant and Deputy Commander. Prior to retiring, he held the position of Deputy State Surgeon for the Massachusetts National Guard, earning the Legion of Merit Award, Meritorious Service Medal and several Army Commendation and Army Achievement Medals. He has earned a MS degree in Emergency Management from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy as well as a BS degree and MS degree in Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He served on the faculty of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy as a capstone advisor for the graduate level Emergency Management course from January 2015-August 2021.

Dr. Emily Kiernan is a triple board-certified Emergency Medicine Physician, Medical Toxicology, and Addiction Medicine Physician. She holds a faculty appointment as an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine. She completed her residency training in Emergency Medicine at Lehigh Valley Health Network and fellowship training in Medical Toxicology and Addiction Medicine at Emory University. She works clinically as an Emergency Medicine Physician at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, GA, as a Medical Toxicologist and Addiction Medicine Physician at the Georgia Poison Center and Emory University, and an Addiction Medicine Physician at the Grady Medication Assisted Opioid Treatment clinic. She is also a part time physician at REAC/TS. In addition to her clinical work, she is an active member and fellow of the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology and the American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT) where she serves as the Chair of the Radiation Section. She is an instructor for the ACMT Agents of Opportunity Course, AACT Advanced Hazmat Life Support, and AACT Advanced Hazmat Life Support for Radiological Incidents and Terrorism Course. She continues to teach as Faculty for Medical Toxicology Education for Emergency Medicine Residents and Medical Toxicology Fellows at Emory University and at multiple academic institutions across the country, focusing on CBRN content. She has also presented internationally at the Turkish International Medical Toxicology Conference and the 3rd International Congress of Emergency Medicine on CBRN topics. She has served as a subject matter expert for CDC/ATSDR on the Medical Management Guidelines for Acute Chemical Exposures and for DHS S&T for Chemical Medical Mitigation.

Diana is a Health Physicist for the Radiation Emergency Assistance Center and Training Site (REAC/TS) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  She serves as an emergency responder for the Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST) as an asset for the National Nuclear Security Association (NNSA) and the Department of Energy (DOE).  Prior to her work with REAC/TS, she worked under NNSA and DOE as a scientist for other NEST assets in the Aerial Measuring Systems, Nuclear Search Program and Consequence Management programs at the Remote Sensing Laboratory located on Joint Base Andrews Air Force Base. In addition to working under these national assets serving 24/7 on call, she conducted research for algorithm training and detector modeling, supported preventative radiological/nuclear detection for major public events, supported domestic radiological/nuclear response exercises, and performed domestic and international training under the Nuclear Incident Preparedness and Collaboration (NIPC) program, all of which falls under the Office of Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation. She also worked underground for the Stockpile Experimentation and Operations directorate at the Nevada National Security Site as a diagnostic scientist and supported the research and development of leading diagnostic technology for subcritical experiments.  She conducted dose analysis for participants during the nuclear testing time period at the Nuclear Testing Archives, and collaborated with other labs and sites in their dose reconstruction.  With a Bachelor of Science in Health Physics from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, she is currently in pursuit of her Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering and continues to support NNSA/DOE with REAC/TS.

Dr. Balajee has been working in the field of radiation biology for more than 20 years with special emphasis on radiation biodosimetry and radiation induced biological effects in diverse human and mouse model systems. After obtaining his Ph.D. degree in Molecular Cytogenetics from Banaras Hindu University in India, Dr. Balajee did his post-doctoral training at the University of Leiden, The Netherlands on ultraviolet induced DNA damage and repair. Dr. Balajee joined as a visiting fellow at the National Institutes of Health, Baltimore in 1994 where he focused on the role of human RecQ helicases in cancer and premature aging. Prior to joining REAC/TS, Dr. Balajee worked for 16 years at the Center for Radiological Research, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, NY and served as the PI on many federally funded research projects to elucidate the molecular mechanisms for low dose radiation induced DNA damage and repair in human cells. 

Dr. Balajee is currently working as the Director of Cytogenetic Biodosimetry Laboratory at ORISE-REAC/TS in Oak Ridge since 2015. Dr. Balajee’s current research is focused on developing automated high throughput triage tools for radiological/nuclear mass casualty incidents. Through collaborations with academic institutions within and outside of the USA, Dr. Balajee is developing several AI-based machine learning tools to automate the detection of chromosome anomalies for expediting dose assessment and triage. His future research goal is to identify and characterize cytogenetic fingerprints for radiation induced carcinogenic events which would help in monitoring the stochastic health risks in exposed humans. Dr. Balajee has published several original research and review articles in peer-reviewed high impact journals such as Cell, Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Journal of Cell Biology and Nature Communications. Dr. Balajee reviews original research and review articles on diverse aspects of radiation biology and cancer for many well-known scientific journals such as Cancer Research, Nucleic Acids Research and Radiation Research. Dr. Balajee has served as the guest editor of a few special issues on DNA repair, aging and biodosimetry for the journals of Mutation Research and Cytogenetic and Genome Research. Dr. Balajee serves as the Associate Editor for the journals of Frontiers in Oncology, Frontiers in Public Health and Cytogenetic and Genome research. Dr. Balajee has given numerous invited lectures on radiation biology and biodosimetry at national and international conferences/workshops. 

Colonel David Martínek (born in 1975) is the Director of the JCBRN Defence Centre of Excellence, Vyškov, The Czech Republic. The Director is a principal advisor to SACT in CBRN defence. In this capacity, he promotes transformation in the field of the CBRN defence in support of ACT, and within an approved Program of Work (PoW), supports Sponsoring Nations (SN) and contributing partners (CP), ACO and other international institutions/organizations in their CBRN defense-related efforts.

Colonel David Martínek had joint the Czech army in 1993 after graduating from the Military High School as a Sergeant First Class. He was promoted to lieutenant after graduating from Military university in 1997.

His working experience covers CBRN Defence positions from tactical to strategic level. He started his career as a squad leader, and CBRN Defence officer from battalion level to Joint Force Command and the JCBRN Defence COE. His experience includes deployments in NATO operation ISAF in Afghanistan in 2008 and EU operation ALTHEA in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2011. Between 2014 – 2017 he served as the CBRN Defence Policy Staff Officer at SHAPE, Belgium.

Kirk Fudge is the Division Chief of Technical Operations with the Toronto Fire Services, bringing nearly three decades of operational and strategic experience in hazardous materials, CBRNE response, and joint operations coordination. In his current role, he provides leadership over specialized technical operations programs, including Hazmat and CBRNE response, while advancing public safety interoperability across partner agencies. His work focuses on aligning frontline operations with strategic planning to enhance preparedness, response capability, and integrated emergency management outcomes.

Maksymilian Stela is a CBRN expert at the Biohazard Prevention Centre at the University of Lodz in Poland. During his more than 25 years of military service at the Military Institute of Chemistry and Radiometry, he served as Head of the CBRN Reconnaissance and Decontamination Department, as well as Head of the Laboratory for the Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention. He also chaired the military standardisation subcommittee on equipment for defence against Weapons of Mass Destruction and was a member of the NATO JCRBND CDG Detection, Identification and Monitoring Panel. He is currently an expert and technical coordinator for CBRN-related projects under the Horizon Europe Programme, the Internal Security Fund, and the EU CBRN CoE Initiative. His main areas of interest include the detection and identification of chemical contamination, the testing of such systems, CBRN incident response procedures, and the CBRN protection of public spaces.

Brian Annett is an Advanced Care Paramedic and Operations Superintendent with extensive experience across emergency operations and specialized response. Since 2009, he has served on the CBRNE team, where he now leads the program and supports multidisciplinary preparedness and incident management. Over his career, Brian has coordinated complex operational responses, guided frontline teams, and contributed to the advancement of hazardous incident readiness. He continues to apply his deep operational background and paramedic expertise to strengthen emergency response capabilities across the organization.