VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The National Air Filtration Association (NAFA) announced Gerry Blackwelder, Dr. Scott Dee, Richard Vincent, and Dr. Jennifer Wagner will present at its upcoming TECH2015 technical seminar, April 15–17, in Dallas.
Blackwelder is an architect, international design consultant, and airborne infection control trainer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Tuberculosis Elimination. He is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology and performed his graduate work at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. Among many accomplishments, he was instrumental in the design and construction of two smallpox laboratories/repositories throughout the world. Blackwelder will present on “Airborne Infection Control Strategies — Protecting the World from the Greatest Disease Related Threats.”
Dee is the director of research at Pipestone Veterinary Clinic in Minnesota. He earned numerous degrees in veterinary medicine from the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota. He was the professor of the department of veterinary population medicine at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine from 1999-2011 and has more than 145 peer-reviewed publications. Dee has been actively involved in the comprehensive swine biosecurity program, working to prevent the spread of porcine reproductive and respiratory disease virus (PRRSV), which has attacked major swine producing farms across the Midwest and East. He will present on “The Application of Air Filtration to Swine Breeding Farms for the Prevention of Airborne Disease.”
Vincent received a master’s degree in technology management from Stevens Institute of Technology. Since 1991, he has focused on an environmental health program applying ultraviolet air-cleansing technology and tools to control the transmission of tuberculosis in high-risk settings. He was the project manager and lighting technology specialist for a multidisciplinary, multicenter epidemiological field trial of ultraviolet air-cleansing effectiveness formed by St. Vincent’s Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) to advance the state-of-the art knowledge to UVGI application for airborne disease control in homeless shelters. After 9-11, this work was extended to consider other airborne diseases including influenza viruses, and surrogates for bioterror agents, namely the smallpox virus and anthrax spores. Vincent currently works at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to reduce the rate of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), by benchmarking the efficacy of various technologies, including mobile, whole-room UVC devices for decontamination of surfaces from pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), C. Difficile, and Ebola. He will present “Controlling Health Care Acquired Infections Using UVC Technology.”
Wagner holds a bachelor’s degree in genetics and a doctorate of philosophy in molecular biology and biochemistry from the University of California. Her current focus is reducing HAIs through research, education, and consulting. Recent efforts in this area focus on novel methods to reduce surgical site infections in operating rooms by applying technology and standards derived from the semiconductor and pharmaceutical industries. Wagner has presented her research to numerous heath care facilities and related organizations including the CDC and the Center for Health Design (CHD). She’s been influential in guiding hospitals to build state-of-the-art procedure rooms with top-performing infection-prevention strategies. She will present “The Latest Testing and Evaluation for the Prevention of Operating Room Infections.”
Also presenting at TECH2015 will be Mike Corbat of Filtration Group and chair of Standing Standards Project Committee for ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 52.2, who will present the major changes to the air filter standard; Steve Ogle, director of education and technical affairs of INDA, presenting nonwoven media production technologies; Brad Stanley, development engineer for AAF Intl., presenting an update of the molecular testing standard, ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 145.2; Bill Palmer, president of AeroMed Inc.; and Chris Zaker, vice president of sales and marketing, Glasfloss Industries, and president of NAFA, presenting information on a recent trip to India designed to educate engineers and medical personnel on techniques to control Tuberculosis.
Publication date: 3/23/2015
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