PositiveID Corporation, an emerging growth company and developer of sophisticated airborne bio-threat detection systems for America's homeland defense, today announced it has added Dr. Kimothy Smith as Chief Technology Advisor to the Company and its Microfluidic Systems ("MFS") subsidiary. The Company will utilize Dr. Smith's expertise in the areas of biosurveillance, biodefense, biosecurity, molecular genetics and diagnostics, as it prepares for the release of the final request for proposal from the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") for BioWatch Generation 3, a $3.1 billion procurement for an early warning system designed to detect the intentional release of airborne biological agents. The Company believes its M-BAND system is one of the only technologies capable of addressing the requirements of BioWatch Generation 3.
Dr. Smith has served as a Senior Advisor for International Biodefense for DHS' Office of Health Affairs and was detailed to the U.S. State Department Office of International Health and Biodefense. Prior to this he served as the Acting Director of the National Biosurveillance Integration Center, where he set the vision and strategy of a U.S. government-wide effort to acquire, aggregate, integrate, analyze, interpret and disseminate all-source biosurveillance information from governmental and private sectors for epidemiological analyses and health protection.
Recently Dr. Smith was as a Senior Scientist for the Tahoe Research Initiative LLC, where he worked on global biosurveillance issues to build capacity and capability of public and veterinary health systems. Moreover, he was the Department of Homeland Security's first Chief Veterinarian and served as the Chief Scientist for the Office of Health Affairs. Prior to working with DHS, Dr. Smith worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory LLNL, where he served as the Deputy Division Leader for Operations in the Counter-terrorism and Incident Response Division of the Non-proliferation, Arms Control and International Security Directorate. In this capacity Dr. Smith was responsible for maintenance and readiness of the laboratory's nuclear response deployment and assessment teams. He earned his Ph.D. in molecular epidemiology from Louisiana State University (1999) where he curated the worldwide Bacillus anthracis collection.
William J. Caragol, Chairman and CEO of PositiveID, said, "We believe that Kimothy's deep knowledge and experience in bioterrorism and biodefense strengthens our team as we move toward this important program."