FOCAL POINT NEWS

ASA's professional associates are on the move in government, industry and academia

a. Dr. Brian Davey, OPCW and the UN. Dr. Brian Davey, Head Health and Safety, The Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), The Hague, Netherlands has been with the OPCW and its predecessor start-up organization for 12 years. And now Dr. Davey has been selected as the Medical Director for the United Nations - a position that he will officially take up on 1 January 2007 in New York.

          And Brian Davey has been ASA's personal family friend for over 15 years. The vignettes are many with Brian and his best friend, his lovely wife Ann, and twin sons Chris and Graeme whom we first met back at their 3rd birthday party near Pretoria, South Africa. Time flies and now they are a strapping 17 and both are on the Dutch International Youth Cricket Team and like their Dad - they are all over the world.

          Going back 12 years we had two separate events that helped shape ASA and the world of professionals in the international arena of chemical, biological and radiological protection. With Brian in Pretoria and this editor in Portland, Maine, we discussed which name we should use as a "nom de plume" for articles from various authors or from authors whose positions would not permit them to use their actual names for legal or safety reasons. We decided on a name we felt no one would have. After first use we were notified by the US State Department that they had not given permission to this individual to write for the ASA Newsletter. Our nom de plume turned out to be the name of an actual US Ambassador. And at the same time, the Maine World Affairs Council (WAC) requested we invite the "nom de plume" to speak at a WAC breakfast. It seems this Ambassador was also a graduate of a Portland, Maine high school and they were glad they saw his name in the ASA Newsletter.

          The second Brian/Richard attempt was more successful. When discussing how to get the NBC world, especially East/West, to exchange data we hit on the idea that these professionals must go eyeball to eyeball and that just exchanging written communications was not going to work. But how? ASA discussed this with Battelle Memorial Institute and the Swiss National Laboratory, SPIEZ LABORATORY, and Dr. Bernhard Brunner, Director. Dr. Brunner said he and the Lab and the Swiss Govenment would back us, with Battelle, but we must emphasize medical protection and no qualified country representative could ever be turned away. We were the very first ever international NBC science and medicine meeting to have that specific objective. As we approach our 14th CBMTS meeting, the CBMTS-Industry V in Dubrovnik, April 15-20, the CBMTS with over 2500 professional members from 84 coutries - we can say the rest is history.

b. Dr. Anna Johnson-Winegar has been named the Chair of the Board of Directors, The American Cancer Society. Truly a fantastic professional. We will have a full write up on her many and continuing accomplishments in a future article.