The Tick-Borne Disease Working Group has 14 members - seven federal members and seven public members. Federal members represent the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, and other federal agencies or offices the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services determines appropriate. Public members represent the following categories: 1) physicians and other medical providers with experience in diagnosing and treating tick-borne diseases; 2) scientists or researchers with expertise; 3) patients and their family members; and 4) nonprofit organizations that advocate for patients with respect to tick-borne diseases. Voting members include Regular Government Employees (federal members) and Special Government Employees (public members) and are subject to conflict of interest laws and regulations
Special Government Employees
Holiday Goodreau
Co-chair
Executive Director, LivLyme Foundation
Co-creator, TickTracker
(Special Government Employee)
Term: 8/26/2021 – 12/13/2022
Holiday Goodreau is the Executive Director of the LivLyme Foundation whose mission is to provide funding for Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease treatment and research, while delivering tick education and awareness around the globe. She is a co-creator of the free global app, TickTracker, allowing users to report and track ticks in real time with the use of geo-location, and she is a Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease advocate. Ms. Goodreau is an inaugural member of the United States Health and Human Services (HHS), Tick-Borne Disease Working Group “Access to Care and Patient Support” subcommittee. As a part of the 21st Century Cures Act, the subcommittee helped make recommendations to Congress addressing the Tick-Borne Disease epidemic. She also serves as a peer reviewer for the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program for Tick-Borne Disease Research as a consumer advocate and is a board member of the MSIDS (Multiple Systemic Infectious Disease Syndrome) Scientific Research Board in New York. She was selected as a 2019 Fellow for The Gratitude Network, which involved a 12-month leadership development program for those dedicated to serving children and youth. Ms. Goodreau’s advocacy work has led her around the country where she has presented at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Boy Scouts of America, Gates Foundation, Microsoft, Chan Zuckerberg Institute, Stanford University, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Duke University and University of New Haven. In her ongoing efforts to find a cure for her daughter’s diagnosed Lyme disease in 2011, Ms. Goodreau continues to work for Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease patients and their families through her extensive advocacy work.
Linden Hu, M.D.
Co-chair
Professor of Microbiology and Medicine
Vice Dean for Research, Tufts University School of Medicine
(Special Government Employee)
Term: 8/26/2021 – 12/13/2022
Dr. Hu received his A.B. and M.D. from Brown University. Following his residency in Internal Medicine, he completed training in Infectious Diseases at Tufts Medical Center. It was there that he was bitten by an interest in vector-borne diseases and he has spent the past 28 years involved in both bench and clinical studies of Lyme disease. His laboratory works on multiple aspects of Lyme disease including vaccine development, new diagnostics and treatments, and understanding interactions between Borrelia burgdorferi and its tick and animal hosts. Most recently, his lab has been researching how the organism evades the host immune response and how human genetic mutations may alter the ability of the bacterial host to control inflammatory responses. The lab is also partnering with other laboratories on strategies to eradicate tick borne pathogens from their wild reservoirs.
Dr. Hu has published over 70 papers and has served on many NIH grant review panels. His research has been funded by NIAID, the Global Lyme Alliance and the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation. He also remains an active Infectious Diseases clinician seeing patients.
Monica E. Embers, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Director
Vector borne Disease Research
Tulane National Primate Research Center
(Special Government Employee)
Term: 8/26/2021 – 12/13/2022
Monica E. Embers obtained her PhD in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, where she studied immune responses to papillomaviruses. She transitioned to the study of bacterial pathogenesis while performing her postdoctoral research on the Lyme disease spirochete at the Tulane National Primate Research Center and subsequently joined the faculty at the primate center. Dr. Embers is an associate professor in the Division of Immunology, the director of the vector-borne disease research program, and the head of the education and training program at the primate center. Her Borrelia burgdorferi and Lyme disease research programs specialize in animal models and efforts to improve diagnosis and treatment. By transmitting B. burgdorferi to mice and nonhuman primates by tick and studying the natural course of infection, her research team aims to facilitate a better understanding of the clinical quandaries of human Lyme disease. Due to the many similarities between Bartonellosis and Lyme disease, her team has begun to develop research models for Bartonella infection and assess vector transmission of this pathogen as well. Dr. Embers’ research has been funded by federal sources and through the support of foundations. She has served on the Department of Defense tick-borne disease (TBD) review panel and on multiple National Institutes of Health study sections. Dr. Embers also served on subcommittees for each of the first two TBD working groups, contributing to the 2018 and 2020 reports to Congress.
Elizabeth Maloney, M.D.
President, Partnership for Tick-borne Diseases Education
(Special Government Employee)
Term: 8/26/2021 – 12/13/2022
Dr. Elizabeth Maloney is the president of Partnership for Tick-borne Diseases Education, a nonprofit organization providing educational resources on tick-borne illnesses to the general public and accredited online continuing medical education modules for physicians and other healthcare professionals. She is an advocate for patients with tick-borne illnesses and for the treating clinicians who grapple with the scientific uncertainties and clinical challenges posed by Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections. Dr. Maloney co-authored the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society’s (ILADS) 2014 treatment guidelines for Lyme disease, among other scientific publications. She has been an invited participant in government sponsored meetings on Lyme disease in the US and Canada and she served on three subcommittees of the Tickborne Disease Working Group during its first two cycles. She also serves as a medical advisor to Lyme advocacy groups.
Dr. Maloney received a BA from St. Catherine University and an MD from the University of Minnesota Medical School. She completed a residency in Family Medicine at the University of Minnesota. She is a member of ILADS and the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Jennifer Platt, DrPH
Co-founder, Tick-Borne Conditions United
(Special Government Employee)
Term: 8/26/2021 – 12/13/2022
Dr. Jennifer Platt has nearly three decades of public health leadership practice in policy and program development, implementation, and evaluation; her domestic and international experience spans local, state, and federal levels of government, and both the private and nonprofit sectors. She specializes in using systems thinking approaches to solve complex problems. Dr. Platt grew up in the Arkansas Ozarks and has lived in North Carolina’s Piedmont region for nearly thirty years. Both of these areas have a high prevalence of the lesser-known tick-borne conditions such as Alpha-gal Syndrome, rickettsial diseases, and ehrlichiosis.
While working on her doctorate in public health from the University of North Carolina in 2011, Dr. Platt contracted ehrlichiosis. She was later confirmed to also have Lyme disease and babesia. After finishing her doctorate in 2012, Dr. Platt’s personal experience with tick-borne illness led her to create TickWarriors in 2016, which provides eco-friendly tick protection for people, pets, and property. The pervasive need for education, research, and advocacy led Dr. Platt to co-found the nonprofit Tick-borne Conditions United (TBCU) in 2018. TBCU strives to bridge the gap between patients and emerging science and the desperately needed education for healthcare providers and the public.
Sunil K. Sood, MD
Chair of Pediatrics,
South Shore University Hospital
Attending Physician, Infectious Diseases,
Cohen Children's Medical Center
Professor of Pediatrics and Family Medicine,
Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
(Special Government Employee)
Term: 8/26/2021 – 12/13/2022
Dr. Sood graduated from Christian Medical College in India, then completed residency training in Pediatrics at Georgetown University and an Infectious Diseases fellowship at Tulane University. He is currently a physician at Northwell Health on Long Island in New York, a hyperendemic area for several tick-borne diseases, where he is Chair of Pediatrics at South Shore University Hospital, an Infectious Diseases physician at Cohen Children's Medical Center, and Professor of Pediatrics and Family Medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine Hofstra/Northwell. His areas of particular interest include tick-borne infections and infant viral infections. In addition to taking care of children with these infections, he contributes to the literature, has edited a book on Lyme Borreliosis, conducted Lyme and other vaccine trials, and served on the Infectious Diseases Society of America/American Academy of Neurology/American College of Rheumatology Lyme Disease Guidelines Panel, and the Infectious Diseases Society of America Babesiosis Guidelines Panel. He contributed to the Second National Conference on Serologic Diagnosis of Lyme Disease (Association of State and Territorial Public Health Laboratory Directors, CDC and Michigan Dept. Health, 1994). He has chaired panels and reviewed grant applications for the Office of Extramural Research, CDC National Center for Infectious Diseases, on prevention of Lyme disease, control of tick vectors, reservoir-targeted vaccine formulations, and integrated tick management technologies to reduce the entomological risk of Lyme disease.
Kirby C. Stafford III, PhD
Chief Scientist and State Entomologist
Department of Entomology
Center for Vector Biology & Zoonotic Diseases
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
(Special Government Employee)
Term: 8/26/2021 – 12/13/2022
Dr. Stafford joined the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in 1987 to develop a research program on the ecology, distribution, and control of the blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, with a major focus on natural, biological, and integrated tick control. His field-oriented research has covered broad aspects of tick management including chemical control, biological control, natural products, diverse host-targeted methodologies, integrated tick management and more recently, began studies on the lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum, a newly emerging tick species in Connecticut. Dr. Stafford has authored or co-authored 86 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals, review chapters on tick management in two books, and produced a Tick Management Handbook (CAES Bulletin 1010) and Fly Management Handbook (CAES Bulletin 1013), presented research at national and international meetings, serves on regional and national tick-related committees, and given over 1,300 media interviews and public talks. Dr. Stafford also oversees the Office of the State Entomologist as the State Plant Regulatory Official and works closely with the USDA-APHIS-PPQ, US Forest Service, and state forestry officials on forest health related issues. As a postdoctoral scientist, Dr. Stafford worked at Penn State University on integrated fly management prior to coming to Connecticut. Dr. Stafford obtained his Ph.D. in medical-veterinary entomology from Texas A&M University in 1985. Dr. Stafford received a Master of Science degree in Entomology at Kansas State University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Entomology at Colorado State University.
Regular Government Employees
Charles Benjamin (Ben) Beard, Ph.D.
Deputy Director, Division of Vector-Borne Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Associate Editor, Emerging Infectious Diseases
(Regular Government Employee)
Dr. Beard earned a B.S. in 1980 at Auburn University, a M.S. in 1983 at the Louisiana State University School of Medicine, and a Ph.D. in 1987 at the University of Florida. He was a post-doctoral fellow and associate research scientist at the Yale University School of Medicine from 1987 to 1991. In 1991, he joined CDC’s Division of Parasitic Diseases, where he served as Chief of the Vector Genetics Section from 1999 to 2003. In 2003, he moved to CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne Diseases in Fort Collins, CO to become Chief of the Bacterial Diseases Branch. In this capacity, he coordinated CDC’s programs on Lyme borreliosis, tick-borne relapsing fever, Bartonella, plague, and tularemia. During his tenure at CDC, Dr. Beard has worked in the prevention of vector-borne diseases, both in the domestic and global arenas. In addition to his work as Chief of the Bacterial Diseases Branch, in 2011 Dr. Beard was appointed as the Associate Director for Climate Change in CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, where he coordinated CDC’s efforts to mitigate the potential impact of climate variability and disruption on infectious diseases in humans. In 2017, he was appointed as the Acting Deputy Director of CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne Diseases. He has published over 125 scientific papers, books, and book chapters collectively, and has served on a variety of committees and panels both inside and outside of CDC, including working groups or advisory panels for the World Health Organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the American Meteorological Society. He is an Associate Editor for Emerging Infectious Diseases and past president of the Society for Vector Ecology and served as Deputy Incident Manager for CDC’s Zika virus outbreak response.
CAPT Rebecca Bunnell, MPAS, PA-C
Senior Advisor
Learning and Diffusion Group, Innovation Center
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(Regular Government Employee)
Captain (CAPT) Bunnell is a physician assistant in the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) and serves as a Senior Advisor within the Learning and Diffusion Group at the CMS Innovation Center. CAPT Bunnell was commissioned in the USPHS in 1998 and began her career caring for immigrants with a multitude of infectious diseases within the health services units of what is now the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On her path to the Innovation Center, she also worked in a preventive medicine clinic at a Federally Qualified Health Center and with the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Bureau of Primary Health Care. CAPT Bunnell also spent a significant period of her career in emergency preparedness and response, working for the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response’s Hospital Preparedness Program and in the Office of the Surgeon General’s Office of the Inactive Reserve. Throughout all of these assignments CAPT Bunnell has remained committed to the response effort on an individual basis, responding to various hurricanes, screening and medically managing influxes of immigrants, and providing medical support for high security events such as the State of the Union Address.
Dennis M. Dixon, Ph.D.
Chief, Bacteriology and Mycology Branch
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(Regular Government Employee)
Dr. Dixon is Chief of the Bacteriology and Mycology Branch, NIAID, NIH. He serves on numerous advisory panels on dangerous pathogens such as Select Agents and Dual Use Research and also antimicrobial resistance, including the Trans-Atlantic Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance and the Presidential Advisory Committee for Combatting Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria. He also serves on the Joint Oversight Committee for the Combatting Antibacterial Resistance Accelerator (CARB-X). His doctorate in microbiology is from the Medical College of Virginia. He held academic positions at Loyola College in Baltimore, the University of Maryland Medical School and Albany Medical College. He was a Visiting Scientist at Hoffman LaRoche, Switzerland, and was Director for the Mycology Reference Laboratory, New York State Department of Health. He is a member of the American Academy of Microbiology. His areas of expertise and leadership oversight in addition to the preceding policy issues are: all fungal diseases of humans and many bacterial infections in humans including Lyme disease, other zoonotic diseases including biodefense pathogens, and most “hospital acquired” bacterial pathogens.
Robert J. Miller, PhD
National Program Leader
Agricultural Research Service
United States Department of Agriculture
(Regular Government Employee)
Dr. Miller earned his PhD in entomology from the Kansas State University in 1997. He joined USDA ARS Knipling-Bushland US Livestock Insects Research Laboratory in Texas as a Research Entomologist in 1998. In 2020, he moved to USDA ARS Office of National Programs. Dr. Miller has over 25 years of experience in studying blood-feeding arthropods affecting human and animal health. Dr. Miller’s tick research includes chemical repellents, pesticide toxicology, acaricide resistance, and integrated tick management. He has authored or co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications and recently completed a project to update the integrated control of cattle ticks in Puerto Rico. Dr. Miller is currently the National Program Leader for Veterinary, Medical, and Urban entomology. The mission of National Program 104 (NP 104) is to improve the protection of humans and livestock from blood-sucking arthropods, and from stinging, or otherwise damaging insects. NP 104 research is divided into three components: (1) Medical entomology for the public and military; (2) Veterinary entomology; and (3) Fire ants and other invasive ant pests. The goal of this research program is to conduct fundamental, applied, and translational research under these components to mitigate the impact of arthropods such as ticks, mosquitoes, sand flies, stable flies, and biting midges. Non-biting flies such as house flies, filth flies, and New World screwworms are also the targets of this research effort as are invasive ants.
CDR Todd Myers PhD, HCLD (ABB), MB (ASCP)
Office of Counterterrorism and Emerging Threats (OCET)
Office of the Chief Scientist, Office of the Commissioner
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(Regular Government Employee)
Dr. Todd Myers is a Commander in the Public Health Service. He is currently stationed within the FDA's Office of the Chief Scientists in the Office of Counter Terrorism and Emerging Threats. Prior to joining OCET, CDR Myers had served as a scientific reviewer within the FDA’s Center for Diagnostics and Radiological Health in the Division of Microbiology Devices. Prior to coming to the FDA, CDR Myers spent 8 years working with the Naval Medical Research Center of which he was a principle investigator for clinical infectious disease research and global surveillance and the clinical laboratory director of the Naval Infectious Diseases Diagnostic Laboratory (NIDDL). Prior to working at NIDDL, CDR Myers served as the head of clinical microbiology at the National Naval Medical Center. He is an expert in clinical virology and vector borne diseases and molecular diagnostics. Dr. Myers has exceptional knowledge in developing assays from bench to bedside and engaging in disease surveillance. Dr. Myers has a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from University of Maryland and is board certified as a High Complexity Clinical Laboratory Director from the American Board of Bioanalysis and a technologist certification in Molecular Biology and Molecular Pathology from the American Society of Clinical Pathology.
Leith Jason States, MD, MPH (FMF)
Deputy Chief Medical Officer
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
(Regular Government Employee)
A native of Los Angeles, California, Leith States received his bachelors degree from Azusa Pacific University, masters degree in public health from the Loma Linda University School of Public Health, and his medical degree from the University of California at San Diego School of Medicine. He received internship training in Internal Medicine at the Naval Medical Center San Diego, and completed residency training in Preventive Medicine at Loma Linda University Medical Center, serving as Chief Resident in his final year of training.
From 2011 to 2013, States served as Battalion Surgeon for 1st Battalion, 1 Marines, 1st Marine Division, where he deployed in support of combat operations during Operation Enduring Freedom. He directed a medical department consisting of one physician assistant, two Independent Duty Corpsmen, and over sixty Navy Corpsmen in garrison and combat-related care for over 1200 United States Marines. From September 2015 to July 2018 he was assigned to Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit FIVE where he served as Department Head for Operations, Officer in Charge for the Forward Deployable Preventive Medicine Unit - team FIVE, and the Navy Medicine West Public Health Emergency Officer, providing public health expertise to an active duty population of over 500,000 spread across the Pacific Command region. He currently serves at the Deputy Chief Medical Officer for the OASH working on issues of national public health importance for the ASH.
States is board certified in Preventive Medicine, and is a current member of the American College of Preventive Medicine. He has published previously on pediatric oncology molecular biology, and has been actively involved with development and implementation of clinical programs aimed at improving preventive care services delivery to veterans living with HIV/AIDS. He has also served as a fellow with the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, HHS, engaging in research on patient-centered health information technology. His personal awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and multiple unit and campaign awards.
Gabriella Zollner (Romero), Ph.D.
Program Manager
Deployed Warfighter Protection Program
U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)
(Regular Government Employee)
Dr. Zollner is the Program Manager for the Deployed Warfighter Protection Program (DWFP) at the Armed Forces Pest Management Board, a Directorate in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Sustainment. As Program Manager, Dr. Zollner provides strategic coordination for execution of the Defense Health Program Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriations allocated to the DWFP iniative and oversees awards to develop novel arthropod bite protection and vector control tools that target ticks, mosquitoes and other biting disease vectors. Dr. Zollner earned a B.S. in Biology from Georgetown University, an M.Sc. in Applied Entomology from Imperial College London, and a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences (Entomology) from the University of Greenwich in the United Kingdom. After completing a National Research Council postdoctoral fellowship at the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (AFRIMS) Entomology Department in Thailand, she held research and administrative positions at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), including Chief of the Department of Vector Control in the Entomology Branch.
Alternate Federal Representatives
LTC Michelle Colacicco-Mayhugh, PhD, PMP
Deputy to the Principal Assistant for Acquisitions,
Medical Research and Development Command
U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)
(Regular Government Employee)
Kristen Honey, Ph.D., P.M.P.
Chief Data Scientist and InnovationX Executive Director
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
(Regular Government Employee)
Dr. Honey is the Chief Data Scientist of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Executive Director of the HHS InnovationX team within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health. Her team tackles complex challenges by harnessing the power of open data, open science, open source, citizen science, crowdsourcing, prizes challenges, and innovative public-private partnerships for public health. Dr. Honey led the Tick-Borne Disease Working Group (TBDWG) as the inaugural Vice Chair and co-authored the 2018 TBDWG Report to Congress. In November 2018, Dr. Honey worked with the HHS Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and launched the federal Lyme Innovation initiative to “harness the power of collaboration, data-driven innovation, and emerging technologies for Lyme and tick-borne diseases.” In 2020, Dr. Honey co-founded the LymeX Innovation Accelerator (LymeX) — a $25-million-dollar partnership between HHS and the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation — creating the world’s largest public-private partnership for Lyme disease. LymeX has three focus areas: (1) engage stakeholders to co-create patient-centered innovations; (2) improve education and awareness; (3) accelerate the development of next-gen diagnostics. Prior to joining HHS, Dr. Honey served in the White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP) and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), advising the U.S. CTO and Federal Chief Information Officer. She earned her Ph.D. at Stanford University in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in the Environment and Resources, School of Earth Sciences, while simultaneously earning a Ph.D. minor in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University. She holds an M.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a B.A. in Human Biology with Honors from Stanford University.
RADM Estella Jones, DVM
Deputy Director
Office of Counterterrorism and Emerging Threats
Office of the Chief Scientist, Office of the Commissioner
Co-Chair, Animal Welfare Council
Food and Drug Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (HHS)
(Regular Government Employee)
Rear Admiral (RADM) Estella Jones, DVM, a graduate of Louisiana State University, is an animal model and zoonosis subject matter expert, maintaining Biosafety Level-4 certification, while studying tickborne disease complications and physiology. She previously worked for the World Health Organization’s Institute for Primate Research in Nairobi, Kenya, studying tropical diseases. She has also worked for industry, the National Institutes of Health, and the HHS Office of the Secretary. RADM Jones held a dual faculty appointment at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX, in Comparative Medicine and Anesthesiology, teaching with the famed late heart surgeon, Dr. Michael DeBakey, who pioneered many coronary surgical innovations. She is the Chairperson for the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Integrated Research Facility Animal Care and Use Committee. She also represents the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Subcommittee for Disaster Reduction and worked with DoD’s Military Advisory Panel at the Pentagon on joint service parity policies. RADM Jones maintains modern clinical and surgical skills with multiple species by staying active in a large emergency and rescue practice with over 70,000 clients.
Andrew Y. Li, PhD
Research Entomologist
Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior Laboratory
Beltsville Agricultural Research Center
Agricultural Research Service
United States Department of Agriculture
(Regular Government Employee)
Dr. Li earned his PhD in entomology from the University of Missouri in 1992. He was a post-doctoral associate and assistant research scientist at the University of Arizona from 1994 to 2000. He joined USDA ARS Knipling-Bushland US Livestock Insects Research Laboratory in Texas as a Research Entomologist in 2000. In 2013, he moved to USDA ARS Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland to spearhead the agency’s efforts in developing new tick control technologies to reduce the risk of tick bites and Lyme disease. Dr. Li has 20 years of experience in studying blood-feeding arthropods / disease vectors (biting flies and ticks) affecting human and animal health. Dr. Li’s tick research includes tick behaviors, feeding physiology, chemical repellents, pesticide toxicology, acaricide resistance, and integrated tick management. He recently completed a study of risk assessment of ticks and tick-borne diseases at school grounds in Maryland. Dr. Li is the Principle Investigator / Project Director of the USDA’s Areawide Tick Management Project with a multi-institutional and multidisciplinary project team. The main objective of this 5-year project in Maryland and Connecticut is to test and validate the efficacy of combined use of host-targeted tick control products and an environment-friendly biopesticide in suppressing tick populations in ticks’ natural habitats around residential neighborhoods. Dr. Li is also the Principle Investigator of a research project (development of novel rodent bait formulations to control immature ticks) funded by the Deployed War-Fighter Protection (DWFP) Program, a DOD-sponsored research program administered by the Armed Forces Pest Management Board (AFPMB).
Samuel S. Perdue, Ph.D.
Section Chief, Basic Sciences and Program Officer, Rickettsial and Related Diseases
Bacteriology and Mycology Branch, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(Regular Government Employee)
Dr. Perdue is Chief of the Basic Sciences Section within the Bacteriology and Mycology Branch, NIAID, NIH. This section comprises program officials who oversee NIAID extramural research funding in Lyme disease, other bacterial zoonoses, hospital infections, antibacterial resistance, medical mycology and biodefense. Dr. Perdue also serves as NIAID’s program officer for rickettsial and related diseases, where he has primary responsibility for the institute’s grants on Rickettsia, Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, Bartonella and Coxiella species, among others. During nearly 20 years of commitment to tick-borne diseases research, he has served as a subject matter expert for numerous advisory panels and working groups.
Dr. Perdue’s interest in tick-borne diseases spans pathogen, human and vector biology. He received his M.S. in biology from Virginia Commonwealth University, studying insect physiology, and his Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Virginia.
CDR Monica Reed-Asante, Pharm.D.
Director, Division of Payment Policy
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(Regular Government Employee)
Commander (CDR) Monica Reed-Asante is a pharmacist in the United States Public Health Service (USPHS). Commander Reed-Asante has more than 10 years of experience at CMS, predominantly serving as a team lead and supervisor. Prior to embarking on her federal career at CMS she completed a Managed Care Residency with a Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) that maintained a portfolio of Medicaid and Medicare lines of business. CDR Reed-Asante was commissioned in 2010 and began her career in the formulary and benefit operations division analyzing and evaluating Part D formularies to ensure equitable drug coverage. CDR Reed-Asante currently directs the payment policy division, where she leads the evaluation and recalibration of risk adjustment models, and the development of policies related to risk adjustment. CDR Reed-Asante is dedicated to managed care and service access and has served on numerous associated teams and panels during her career, responding to the unaccompanied children mission, COVID response teams, serving on panels to evaluate protected drug classes and minority focused grants, and clinician panels for the evaluation of conditions for high-risk populations in Medicare payment models.
Designated Federal Officers
Efforts of the Working Group are managed and supported by the Designated Federal Officer (DFO) and the Alternate DFO. These individuals are not voting members of the Working Group
James J. Berger, MS, MT (ASCP), SBB
Designated Federal Officer (DFO), Tick-Borne Disease Working Group
Senior Blood and Tissue Policy Advisor
Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
James Berger is the Senior Blood and Tissue Policy Advisor to HHS Assistant Secretary of Health in the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy, as well as the DFO of the Advisory Committee on Blood and Tissue Safety and Availability. He is also the HHS representative to the International Hemovigilance Network and to the AABB Interorganizational Task Force on Domestic Disasters and Acts of Terrorism, which ensures that blood and tissue products are available and delivered to areas that need support.
Before joining HHS, Mr. Berger was a National Enforcement Officer with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), where he was in charge of ensuring that VA laboratories met all regulatory and accrediting requirements. Mr. Berger was Chief of the U.S. Air Force Blood Program before he retired in 1998, after 25 years of service.
Mr. Berger has a master’s degree in both immunohematology and applied biology from Ohio’s Bowling Green State University and a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Alabama’s Troy State University.
B. Kaye Hayes, MPA
Alternate Designated Federal Officer (DFO), Tick-Borne Disease Working Group
Deputy Director
Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Kaye Hayes has been the Executive Director and DFO for the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) since 2012. Before her appointment with PACHA, Ms. Hayes served as the Acting Deputy Director and Senior Advisor for Policy for the Office on Women's Health (OWH) within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health. Among her responsibilities at OWH were the formulation of budget, performance, and policy initiatives for the office, as well as management improvement and strategic planning. Prior to joining the OWH staff, Ms. Hayes served as Special Assistant to then-Assistant Secretary for Health and Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher. She also has worked as the Extramural Community Liaison for the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Ms. Hayes received a bachelor's degree in rhetoric and communication studies from the University of Virginia and a master's degree in public administration from Georgia State University, with a concentration in strategic management and human resource management. While in graduate school, she was selected as a Presidential Management Fellow and completed her 2-year assignment at CDC, National AIDS Information and Education Program.
