overview
The Hertz Topical Forum: Biosecurity, supported by the generosity of Eric and Wendy Schmidt, will take place on Friday, September 19, 2025, in Washington DC. The event is a collaboration co-hosted by the Hertz Foundation and the Federation of American Scientists.
This one-day, high-impact event will convene science and technology experts to explore pressing biosecurity challenges while catalyzing the creation of new projects, products, or perspectives. The forum will bring together Hertz Fellows at all career stages in collaboration with leaders in government, industry, and academia to explore and scale solutions to our most pressing biosecurity challenges.
The forum is open to Hertz Fellows and external guests by invitation only. To request an invitation, please complete and submit the following Expression of Interest form by no later than September 2, 2025. We will respond to your request by no later than September 8, 2025.
Speakers
Elizabeth (Beth) Cameron
Professor and Senior Advisor to the Pandemic Center, Brown University School of Public Health
Sarah Carter
Principal, Science Policy Consulting LLC
Kevin Esvelt
Associate Professor, MIT Media Lab
Norman Kahn
President and Principal, Counter-Bio LLC
Michael Koeris
Office Director, Biological Technologies Office, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Gigi Kwik Gronvall
Senior Scholar, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, and Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Harshi Mukundan
Chemical and Biological Technologies Lead, Office of National Homeland Security, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Christopher Park
International Security Professional
Claire Qureshi
CEO, Co-founder and Board Member, Sentinel Bio
Hon. Andy Weber
Senior Fellow, The Council on Strategic Risks
Sam Weiss Evans
Senior Policy Advisor, National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology
agenda
Volunteer Advisors
Liyam Chitayat
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Biology, Computational Systems Biology
Gerald Epstein
Senior Scientist (Adjunct), RAND Corporation
Erica Goldman
Director of Day One and Policy Entrepreneurship, Federation of American Scientists
Yong-Bee Lim
Associate Director, Global Risk Team, Federation of American Scientists
Our Co-Host
Federation of American Scientists
FAS envisions a world where cutting-edge science, technology, ideas and talent are deployed to solve the biggest challenges of our time. We embed science, technology, innovation, and experience into government and public discourse in order to build a healthy, safe, prosperous and equitable society. Learn more
