FORT WORTH SCIENTIST TAPPED FOR FBI POST


FORT WORTH, Texas –– The Federal Bureau of Investigation has appointed a Fort Worth molecular biologist as chairman of its DNA Advisory Board.

He is Dr. Arthur Eisenberg, associate professor of pathology at the UNT Health Science Center.

Dr. Eisenberg, 42, has served as the board’s molecular geneticist since 1995, a position to which he was reappointed in April 1998. His appointment was announced this week by FBI director, Louis Freeh. As chairman, Dr. Eisenberg succeeds Nobel Laureate Dr. Joshua Lederberg of The Rockefeller University, N.Y. He will serve as chairman through March 2000.

The FBI’s DNA Advisory Board’s primary responsibility is to recommend standards to the bureau’s director for DNA quality assurance and for proficiency testing at forensic laboratories throughout the United States. It also develops standards for forensic personnel who conduct DNA analyses in criminal cases.

As board chairman, Dr. Eisenberg will serve with sixteen other scientists and crime laboratory specialists. All members are nominated by the National Academy of Sciences and other professional societies. The board holds scheduled meetings twice yearly in Washington, D.C., and other sessions as needed. The panel was established by the federal DNA Identification Act of 1994.

Dr. Eisenberg came to the UNT Health Science Center in 1989 as associate professor of pathology and director of the center’s DNA Identity Laboratory. He also serves as an associate member on the graduate faculty of the biology department at the University of North Texas, Denton. Dr. Eisenberg earned his Ph.D. in molecular biology at the State University of New York in Albany.

“Art’s international reputation for forensic expertise reflects, among many other cases, his identification activities in the aftermath of the Branch Dividian events of 1993,” said Dr. David M. Richards, president of the UNT Health Science Center. “This is a prestigious national assignment that is well–earned and a new source of pride for this institution.”

In addition to his work in forensics, Dr. Eisenberg has developed diagnostic assays for various genetic disorders, including widely–used DNA–based cancer diagnostic tests for leukemias and lymphomas. He also has improved paternity–related DNA testing methods.