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CHAIR BIOS: WORKING GROUP CHAIRS
Center in San Antonio Texas as Chief, Clinical Microbiology. In 1989, he transferred back to the Armed
Forces Institute of Pathology as Chief of Microbiology. Dr. Hadfield retired from the Air Force in 2000
and was appointed as a Distinguished Scientist at the American Registry of Pathology. He continued as
Chief of Microbiology and as Deputy Director of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases Pathology. In 2003 he
moved to MRIGlobal’s Florida Division as Chief, Bioscience Advisor. In 2012 he retired from MRIGlobal
and became president of HADECO, LLC, a consultation service for microbiological, immunology and
molecular biology solutions. Dr Hadfield has more than 100 scientific publications and remains active in
research projects at MRIGlobal, University of Florida, Gainesville and consultations with clinical
laboratories.
Luther Lindler, PhD
Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate
SPADA YERSINIA PESTIS WORKING GROUP CHAIR
Dr. Lindler joined the DHS Science and Technology Directorate in October 2003 as a Senior Science
Advisor. Dr. Lindler currently serves as the DHS S&T liaison to the Department of Defense Joint Program
Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense (JPEO‐CBD). He also serves as the Chief Scientist
for the DHS Chemical and Biological Defense Division providing biodefense expertise to both DOD as
well as DHS in the area of infectious disease threats from a global perspective. Dr. Lindler’s previous
work provided strategic investments to bring forward deployed rapid molecular diagnostics to U.S.
forces. Dr. Lindler provided technical leadership in the Federal Material Threat Assessment and
Biological Risk Assessment programs. He helped plan the National Biodefense Analysis and
Countermeasures Center forensics and threat characterization programs as well as the first DHS
laboratory building on the Fort Detrick National Biodefense Campus. Before joining DHS, Dr. Lindler was
a leader in the U.S. Army Biodefense program. He was a principle investigator at the Walter Reed Army
Institute of Research leading a team of professionals studying the pathogenesis of the plague bacterium.
He served on the Army’s plague vaccine steering committee and the emerging threats steering
committee within the Biodefense program. The peak of his career with the Army culminated with his
senior editorship of the well‐acclaimed Biodefense book entitled, “Biological Weapons Defense;
Infectious Diseases and Counterbioterrorism.” Dr. Lindler was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of
Dr. Susan Straley at the University of Kentucky in Lexington from 1987 until 1989. Dr. Lindler received his
Ph.D. in Microbiology from the Medical College of Virginia in 1987, his Masters of Science in
Microbiology from Clemson University in 1981 and his Bachelor’s of Science in Medical Technology from
Lenoir Rhyne College in North Carolina in 1978.