Acting Director, Strategic Science and Technology Division
Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Dr. Seals is Acting Director of the Strategic Science and Technology Division (SSTD). Since 2009 he served as a Program Manager in BARDA’s Influenza and Emerging Diseases Division. Prior to that, he served as a Program Manager for Tunnell supporting the mission of BARDA.
Dr. Seals earned his Ph.D. in Cell Biology from Washington University (MO) after receiving a B.A. in Biology from Blackburn College. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Brown University in the Department of Physiological Chemistry. After beginning his career at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, he spent 20+ years in the Boston-area biotech community, developing, manufacturing, and licensing biological products. He joined HHS from his most recent position as Director of Process Development and Site Manager at the GlaxoSmithKline Biological Vaccine Development and Clinical Manufacturing facility in Northborough, MA. His scientific and managerial history has given him first-hand experience with a broad range of technologies and applications, from genetically engineered recombinant proteins to live or inactivated whole microbial formulations for both prophylactic and therapeutic uses.
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For the past 10 years, he has also been involved in the resurgence of activity in the development, manufacturing, and licensing of influenza vaccines, both egg and cell culture-derived. He was the Technical lead for the licensure of GSK’s Flulaval product in the U.S., expansion of its manufacturing facility in Quebec, and establishment of GSK’s cell-based vaccine development program.
Dr. Seals’ career has provided him with a wide perspective on the challenges of biological product development, and on the opportunities for making the enterprise more responsive and efficient in meeting public health needs. In this regard, the federal government has a key role to play in providing commercial entities with the incentive and support to participate in the development and manufacturing of medical countermeasures for threats that do not have viable commercial markets. Providing strategic and technical support and direction for BARDA’s programs focused on countermeasures for naturally occurring and man-made threats is the mission of the SSTD group. The group is also taking the lead in helping to plan, organize and establish BARDA’s new Emerging Infectious Diseases Division, which will undertake initiatives focused on naturally occurring infectious threats that are newly identified or are becoming of increasing public health significance.