Bioterrorism expert lectures Nov. 30

11:37 a.m., Nov. 29, 2004--Col. Ted Cieslak, a nationally known bioterrorism expert and doctor who recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq, will lecture on “Biowarfare and Bioterrorism: A Primer” at 4 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 30, in 130 Smith Hall.

Geared for a general audience, Cieslak’s talk will provide an overview of biowarfare, place it in historical context, compare it to chemical, conventional and nuclear warfare and explore what factors might provoke bioterrorism and what medical implications might result from such an attack.

Cieslak served as a practicing pediatrician for five years before entering a fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. During his fellowship, Cieslak did research in the field of pathogenesis. After a tour as the infectious disease consultant at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, Cieslak was appointed chief of field operations and then chief of the operational medicine division at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, Md. In 2001, he became the chairman of the San Antonio Military Pediatric Center.

Cieslak remains active in biowarfare and bioterrorism defense and serves as consultant to the U.S. Surgeon General. He has lectured widely on biodefense and disaster response and has worked with the Department of Defense, the CIA, the FBI and various state health departments. He holds clinical associate professorships at the Uniformed Services University and the University of Texas Health Science Center and also serves as a military flight surgeon.

Sponsored by the Beta Beta Beta Biological Honors Society, the Department of Biological Sciences, the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society and the University Honors Program, the talk is free and open to the public. A question-and-answer session will follow the lecture. For more information, call (302) 893-3556.

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