Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees and Executive Director of the Scientists Center for Animal Welfare (SCAW) represent a wide spectrum of interests and professional disciplines in biomedical research, agricultural science, wildlife research and ethics. Brief biographical sketches of these individuals follow:
Officers
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Randall J. Nelson, PhD
President University of Tennessee Health Science Center Randall J. Nelson, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC). He received a BS in Psychology from Duke University in 1975 and completed his doctoral degree in Anatomy at Vanderbilt University in 1979. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California at San Francisco, he was a Staff Fellow at the National Institutes of Health, first in the Laboratory of Neurophysiology, and finally in the Laboratory of Neuropsychology, both at NIMH. He came to UTHSC in 1984 and since then has conducted research into the control of hand movement and taught Human Gross Anatomy. He has served as a member of several NIH study sections. Dr. Nelson has been a council member of the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR) and is currently an AAALAC Council member. He was a member of the UTHSC Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) for twelve years and its chair for three. He is a Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Developer, and serves on the Animal Users Group and on the Program Advisory Committee. He has been named a National Associate of the National Research Council (NRC) for his pro bono publico work on NRC’s behalf. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of SCAW and currently serves as its President. |
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John F. Bradfield, DVM, PhD, DACLAM Vice President University of Nebraska Medical Center Dr. Bradfield is the Director of Comparative Medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Prior he was the Senior Director, for AAALAC-International. He has served as Director of the Division of Laboratory Animal Medicine and Attending Veterinarian at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and also as the Chair Department of Comparative Medicine, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina. Prior to graduate studies in laboratory animal medicine, he was a large animal practitioner. He has had many years’ experience directing animal programs and as an animal care and use committee member. Dr. Bradfield has scholarly publications in various areas of laboratory animal medicine, wound healing, vascular biology and platelet biology. He has given national and international presentations on topics in laboratory animal medicine and platelet function. He is a member of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, American Society of Laboratory Animal Practitioners and is a Diplomate of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine and has PhD degree in experimental pathology. Dr. Bradfield has ten years’ service as Council member of AAALAC International and as Council President. |
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Margaret Landi, VMD, MS, DACLAM, MBioethics
Secretary, SCAW Board of Trustee Specialist in Animal Welfare, Ethics and Strategy Margaret recently retired as the Chief of Animal Welfare, Ethics and Strategy for GlaxoSmithKline and is now working as a specialist in animal welfare, bioethics and strategic approaches to translational animal studies. Margaret received an MS in Comparative Medicine, after completing her veterinary training at the University of Pennsylvania. Her first roles were in clinical laboratory animal and veterinary medicine. Margaret is a Diplomate in the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (ACLAM) and is a Past President of the organization. Besides serving on the ACLAM Board of Directors, she has served on the Council of the Institute of Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR), a part of the National Academy of Science. While on Council, she was Editor-in-Chief of the ILAR Journal. She worked on review committees of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and has led special site visit teams for NIH Committees. She serves currently on the Board o f Trustees for the Scientists Center for Animal Welfare and Chimp Haven; the only federally funded sanctuary for chimpanzees in the US. Margaret has received Distinguish Alumni Awards from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and William Paterson University. She has been awarded both the Charles River Prize and the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association’s Veterinarian of the Year Award. She is also a recipient of the Harry Rowsell Award from the Scientists Center for Animal Welfare. Her Masters of Bioethics is from the University of Pennsylvania Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy. Margaret served on the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Science, and Committee on the Future of Chimpanzees in Biomedical and Behavioral Research. The Committee published its report in Dec 2011; Chimpanzees in Biomedical and Behavioral Research: Assessing the Necessity. Margaret’s present and future activities will concentrate on publishing papers, speaking and participating on the evolution of bioethical and translational topics in animal research, along with the 3Rs, Harm/Benefit analysis, animal welfare, and traditional laboratory animal medicine. |
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Gregory R. Reinhard, DVM, MBA, Dipl ACLAM
Treasurer University of Pennsylvania Gregory R. Reinhard, MBA, DVM, DACLAM, CPIA is a boarded laboratory animal veterinarian and compliance officer. Currently the Senior Director in the Office of Animal Welfare at the University of Pennsylvania. He received a B.S. in Animal Science from Rutgers University, an MBA in pharmaceutical/chemical studies at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and a DVM from the School of Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University. He was a post-doctoral fellow and staff member at the Rockefeller University. After Rockefeller, he served as the director of Comparative Medicine and Attending Veterinarian at Schering-Plough Research Institute in Kenilworth, NJ. He later moved to Merck & Co as Executive Director for Global Research Safety and Compliance and global Institutional Official over animal research. At Merck, he had oversight of 27 animal research sites. At Merck, he also served as Co-Compliance Officer for MRL and led the Biosafety and Radiation Safety departments. He has extensive experience assessing external laboratory animal programs, having managed Merck’s in-vivo outsourcing due diligence programs. He has personally evaluated over 150 programs around the world. He is an Ad Hoc specialist for AAALAC-I and serves on their 3Rs Strategic Policy Committee. He managed over $350 million in vivarium construction and renovation. AALAS awarded him the Collins Award for teaching and education. He served on various boards, including SCAW, NJ Association for Biomedical Research, the Pennsylvania Society for Biomedical Research, and the National Association for Biomedical Research. He has helped organize over 100 IACUC education conferences/workshops and has lectured extensively on animal welfare regulator compliance and IACUC operations. |
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Ernest D. Prentice, PhD
Past President Professor Emeritus Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy University of Nebraska Medical Center Ernest D. Prentice, PhD, is Professor Emeritus, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). During his 45-year career at UNMC, he served as IACUC Chair, IRB Chair and the IO for both the Animal Care and Use Program as well as the Human Research Protection Program. In addition to his scholarly work in the fields of anatomy and medical education, Dr. Prentice is a frequent contributor to the literature on the ethics and regulation of both human and animal research, and he is a frequent speaker at meetings on various aspects of research ethics. He is on the Board of Directors for the IACUC 101 series and the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP). Dr. Prentice is Past President of the Board of Trustees for the Scientist Center for Animal Welfare and a member of the CITI Executive Advisory Committee. In 2003, Dr. Prentice was awarded the Harry C. Roswell Award for his contributions to the enhancement of laboratory animal welfare, and in 2005, Dr. Prentice received the Applied Research Ethics National Association (ARENA) Distinguished Service Award. In 2006, the HHS Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) presented Dr. Prentice with a medallion for Outstanding Achievement in Human Subject Protections. |
Board of Trustees
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B. Taylor Bennett, DVM, PhD, DACLAM
Consultant Dr. B. Taylor Bennett did his undergraduate work at Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee. He obtained his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Auburn University and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Medical School. He spent 36 years at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) overseeing their animal care and use program. The last ten of those years he served as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Resources where he oversaw 14 campus wide research support core facilities. He currently serves as the Senior Scientific Advisor for the National Association for Biomedical Research (NABR). Dr. Bennett has served as the President of the Association of Primate Veterinarians, the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science and the American Society of Laboratory Animal Practitioners. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association for Biomedical Research, which he chaired, and the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine. He has also served as the ASLAP Delegate and Alternate Delegate to the AVMA House of Delegates and on both the 1993 and 2000 AVMA Panel on Euthanasia. He currently serves as Chair of the Board of the ASLAP Foundation and on the Board of Directors of the Scientist Center for Animal Welfare He also served as the program director for an ACLAM approved postdoctoral training program in laboratory animal medicine and as the senior editor for the two volume ACLAM text, Non Human Primates in Biomedical Research and an author of the CRC manual The Laboratory Non-human Primate. Dr. Bennett has 70 publications and 200 abstracts and presentations. He has been the recipient of the CB-AALAS Robert J. Flynn Award, the AVMA Charles River Prize, the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine Special Service Award, the AALAS Joseph J. Garvey Award, the Foundation for Biomedical Research Lifetime Achievement Award, the AVMA Animal Welfare Award and the Wilford S. Bailey Distinguished Alumni Award from Auburn School of Veterinary Medicine. |
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Anthony G. Comuzzie, PhD
Chief Executive Officer The Obesity Society Anthony “Tony” Comuzzie, PhD, FTOS, provides overall strategic direction and executive leadership at The Obesity Society’s headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. Tony is a world-renowned obesity researcher and scientist, having served on the faculty in the Department of Genetics at Texas Biomedical Research Institute. He has spent nearly 25 years researching the genetics of obesity, including work on numerous genetic epidemiological studies, and authored more than 250 journal articles. Dr. Comuzzie served on the Texas Biomedical Research Institute’s (formerly the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research) animal care and use committee (IACUC) for over 15 years, with 10 of those years as the committee chair. Dr. Comuzzie received his Bachelors of Science degree in Biology in 1981 and a Masters of Arts degree in Anthropology in 1987 from Texas A&M University and his Doctorate of Philosophy in Biological Anthropology in 1992 from the University of Kansas. |
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Susan B. Harper, DVM, MS, DACLAM, ACVPM, RBP
Member, SCAW Board of Trustee Deputy Director, Office of Animal Care and Use National Institutes of Health Dr. Susan Harper received her DVM from Louisiana State University and worked in large animal practice for several years before enrolling in a post-doctoral residency and masters degree program in comparative medicine at the Penn State University College of Medicine. She served on the Penn State faculty for 2 years following graduation, before accepting a position with the U.S. Federal Government. She has worked at several different Departments and Agencies throughout her career and currently serves as the Deputy Director for the Office of Animal Care and Use at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD. She is an active member of numerous professional veterinary and safety organizations, maintains status as a diplomate in the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (ACLAM) and the American College of Veterinary Preventative Medicine (ACVPM); is a Registered Biosafety Professional (RBP) through the American Biological Safety Association (ABSA); and serves on AAALAC Council. |
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Sally Thompson-Iritani, DVM PhD, CPIA, CCFP, CHABP
Member, SCAW Board of Trustee Assistant Vice Provost, Animal Care, Outreach &3Rs Clinical Associate Professor, DEOHS, SPH University of Washington Sally Thompson-Iritani, DVM/PhD, is the Assistant Vice Provost for Animal Care, Outreach and the 3Rs at the University of Washington (UW) Office of Research. She has experience in both industry and academia as a laboratory animal veterinarian, IACUC administrator, facility manager and preclinical researcher. She has received certification as an IACUC Administrator (Prim&R), Compassion Fatigue Professional (IATP), Compassion Fatigue Educator (GreenCross) and Human Animal Bond Practitioner (AVMA). She is the executive sponsor for the UW Dare to Care (D2C) program which provides support and Compassion Resiliency resources for personnel that care and work with research animals and serves as a mentor for the UW One Health Program OHHAI (Occupational Health at the Human-Animal Interface) that trains physicians on the role of One Health in our society. Other areas of emphasis are development of novel ways to support animal welfare and decrease regulatory burden by standardization of procedures (Compliance Unit Standard Procedure (CUSP) partnered with Federal Demonstration Partnership), and utilization of Positive Reinforcement Training (PRT) to minimize stress when working with research animals. Dr. Thompson-Iritani is a member of the SCHAI Working Group on the Psychological Impact of Humane Endings and works nationally with the American Society for Laboratory Animal Practitioners and locally with the Washington State Veterinary Medical Association. She is the Vice President of the North American 3Rs Collaborative (3RsC) and serves on the Steering Committee for the US Animal Research Openness Initiative and on the board for the Northwest Association for Biomedical Research. She is committed to supporting work at the intersection of animal welfare, science and compliance to ensure that we continue to optimize the care that we provide to the animals to support the strong science and remain compliant with regulations. |
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Linda Tockey
Executive Director SCAW Linda Tockey has been appointed as Executive Director of the Scientists Center for Animal Welfare on December 8, 2019 at the SCAW Annual Board Meeting. Previously she was appointed Managing Director in December 2013, Linda has been an employee of SCAW since March of 1990. |