Research Interest

Dr. Osterholm is director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP). He has been a national leader detailing the growing concern regarding the use of biological agents as catastrophic weapons targeting civilian populations. After 9/11, he served as Special Advisor to Secretary Tommy G. Thompson on issues related to bioterrorism and public health preparedness. Dr. Osterholm serves on the editorial boards of five journals. He is a reviewer for 24 additional journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and Science. He served on the CDC’s National Center for Infectious Diseases Board of Scientific Counselors from 1992 to 1997; and is former president of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE). Dr. Osterholm served for 24 years (1975-1999) in various roles at the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH); the last 15 as state epidemiologist and chief of the Acute Disease Epidemiology Section. He currently serves on the IOM Forum on Emerging Infections. He has served on the IOM Committee on Emerging Microbial Threats to Health in the 21st Century and the IOM Committee on Food Safety, Production to Consumption. He was also a reviewer for the IOM Report on Chemical and Biological Terrorism. As a member of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), Dr. Osterholm serves on the Public and Scientific Affairs Board (where he chairs the Public Health Committee), the Task Force on Biological Weapons, and the Task Force on Antibiotic Resistance. He is a frequent consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of Defense, and the CDC. He is a fellow of the American College of Epidemiology and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).