George Korch, former commander at the U.S. Army‘s Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, has joined Battelle as lab director for the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center.
Battelle said Tuesday Korch succeeds Patrick Fitch, who will transition to a new role as associate lab director for chemical, earth and life sciences at the Triad National Security-managed Los Alamos National Laboratory.
“NBACC’s twin missions of threat characterization and bioforensics are essential and critical for our nation’s long-term biosecurity and for the continuous, real-time needs of federal law enforcement,” Korch said.
He previously worked as senior science adviser to the Department of Health and Human Services‘ assistant secretary for preparedness and response and is a visiting professor at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Hygiene and Public Health.
NBACC is a federally funded research and development center that Battelle manages for Department of Homeland Security.