Systems Approach to Biosecurity and Biological Disaster Management

Michael Hopmeier, President of Unconventional Concepts, Inc.

Michael J. Hopmeier: President, Unconventional Concepts, Inc, and has been a technical advisor and operational consultant to numerous governmental and international agencies and organizations, including the DARPA Defense Sciences Office, U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, United States Surgeon General, the Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Chemical and Biological Defense, the World Health Organization and several foreign governments. He was one of the primary developers of the Bioterrorism Preparedness Program at the CDC, served as the Science and Technology Advisor to the USAF Surgeon General, as well as the first S&T Advisor to the United States Marine Corps Chem/Bio Incident Response Force (CBIRF). He has been active in the development and deployment of numerous guidelines and procedures, including guidelines for policy development and operations related to counterterrorism and response, security and public health issues associated with mass gatherings, and preparedness and response programs supporting population response to disasters and critical incidents.

Mr. Hopmeier is an internationally recognized expert on countering suicide terrorism, counter- and anti- terrorism, disaster/crisis response, public health and national security programs, and emergency management and preparedness. He is a founding and current member of the Executive Board of the International Counter-Terrorism Academic Community and an Associate Researcher of the Institute for Counter-Terrorism. He has been a member and/or task force Chair for numerous senior advisory panels including the Defense Science Board and the National Academy of Sciences and chairs the Joint Staff External Red Team for Joint Concepts for the Chairman. He has authored numerous papers and presentations on topics ranging from biological model development and biotechnology research, to emergency response training and suicide bombing. He is also an expert on Federal Acquisition Programs.

In addition, Mr. Hopmeier has supported public health, security and counter terrorism training and operations throughout the world including Thailand, Australia, Canada, the Middle East, South West Asia, Turkey and numerous other countries and regions. He has supported and analyzed events such as the World Youth Day 2008 and the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Mr. Hopmeier is a founder of a number of different start-up companies, and sits on the board of several high technology firms. He has been involved in numerous international programs as a manager or advisor, and has supported a number of efforts in the UK, Greece and Israel. His project areas include mass gathering and complex event response, training and preparedness, chemical/biological incident response, combat casualty care and medical support, crisis response and management, unconventional pathogen countermeasure programs, federal agency protective measures, counter-terrorism, terrorist cultural motivation and integrated federal/civilian disaster response. Mr. Hopmeier holds bachelors and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Florida.