David Franz

Dr. Franz is Vice President & Chief Biological Scientist, Midwest Research Institute. He served in the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command for 23 of 27 years on active duty and retired as Colonel. He served as Commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) and as Deputy Commander of the Medical Research and Materiel Command. Prior to joining the Command, he served as Group Veterinarian for the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne).

Dr. Franz was the Chief Inspector on 3 United Nations Special Commission biological warfare inspection missions to Iraq and served as technical advisor on long-term monitoring. He also served as a member of the first two U.S.–UK teams that visited Russia in support of the Trilateral Joint Statement on Biological Weapons and as a member of the Trilateral Experts’ Committee for biological weapons negotiations.

Dr. Franz was Technical Editor for the Textbook of Military Medicine on Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare released in 1997. Current standing committee appointments include the Defense Intelligence Agency Red Team Bio-Chem 2020, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Threat Reduction Advisory Committee, the National Academy of Sciences Committee on International Security and Arms Control, the Department of Health and Human Services National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, and the Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Advisory Committee. He currently co-chairs the National Research Council Committee on Expanding and Strengthening the DoD’s Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. He serves on the Boards of the Federation of American Scientists and the Kansas Bioscience Authority.

Dr. Franz holds an adjunct appointment as Professor for the Department of Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council and chairs a university-wide Biosecurity Advisory Committee. The current focus of his activities relates to the role of international engagement in the life sciences as a component of national security policy.

Dr. Franz holds a DVM from Kansas State University and a PhD in Physiology from Baylor College of Medicine.

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