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Tom Fuerst is the VP and Chief Scientific Officer at PharmAthene. Prior to joining PharmAthene in April 2010, Dr. Fuerst served as Director, Vaccines and Biologics (2004-2007), and Senior Science and Technology Advisor (2007-2010) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In these positions, he led the development and acquisition of vaccines and biotherapeutic products for biodefense and other emerging public health threats, including anthrax, smallpox, botulism, and pandemic flu. During his tenure at HHS, Dr. Fuerst helped establish the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and oversaw the planning, implementation, and monitoring of medical countermeasure development and acquisition, while managing a budget of approximately $3.0 billion. Previously, Dr. Fuerst served as Executive Director of Corporate Development at Sanofi Pasteur, Inc., where he oversaw the scientific and business transactions for vaccines and immunotherapeutic products for infectious diseases and cancer, and played a key role in establishing the company's biodefense initiative post 9/11. He also led a collaborative R&D group to develop a next generation anthrax vaccine in response to the National Institute of Health's Request for Proposal. Prior thereto, he was Vice President, Research and Development at Genelabs Technologies, and a scientific founder and Director of Molecular Genetics at MedImmune. He also served as a senior fellow at the National Institutes of Health, NIAID in Bethesda, MD. Dr. Fuerst holds a B.A. in Biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley, a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from Cornell University, and a MBA in Science, Technology, and Innovation from the George Washington University.