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The Division of Occupational Health and Safety (DOHS) welcomes four new employees to their Safety Operations and Support Branch (SOSB). The SOSB is dedicated to promoting safe science and a safe work environment through collaboration and innovation that provides expert frontline technical advice, guidance and leadership on all matters pertaining to occupational health and safety in biomedical research. Our motto is simple: we are here to help. This team of highly skilled Health and Safety Specialists performs safety surveys of NIH laboratories, conducts injury and illness reports, serves on animal care and use committees (ACUC), and provides consultations regarding occupational health and safety issues. The SOSB is committed to mitigating, reducing and eliminating the many risks associated with lab research to protect the safety of NIH staff.
 

• Carolyn Buckwalter, Ph.D. as our new Safety Manager in SOSB. Carolyn earned her BS in Biology and MS in Forensic Science form Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, and her PhD in Biomedical Science with an emphasis in Microbial Pathogenesis from Ohio State University. She previously worked at the University of Toronto where she completed her Post-Doc, worked as the CL3/BSL3 manager, and then as a Research Operations Officer.
  

• Keith Hutton has returned to DOHS.  Keith provided support to DOHS SOSB from 2016-2018.  Keith has a BS in Microbiology from the University of Maryland and extensive laboratory experience ranging from microbiological techniques and medical test methods to cGMP/GLP/GCLP laboratory operations.  Most recently he provided support to the FDA Division of Product Quality Research, providing a wide range of technical support in addition to regulatory review and policy development of complex drug products.
   
• Shirron LeShure Ratiff, Ph.D. will be providing safety support with the SOSB.  Shirron has an MS In Chemistry from Tuskegee University and a PhD in Animal Science from Ohio State University.   Most recently she worked as a faculty assistant / laboratory manager at the University of Maryland.  Before that she provided support to the University of Maryland- Institute of Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and to the USDA Agricultural Research Service as a Biological Science Lab Tech.
  

• Jake Yoo as a new Laboratory Technician in SOSB. Jake earned his BS in Environmental Science from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2018 and previously worked at Avantor, located in Leesburg, VA. At Avantor, he worked with human samples and test articles in a BSL-2 laboratory.  
  

Feel free to contact SOSB at 301-496-2960 for assistance or visit  http://go.usa.gov/xCCae.