Trained as a biochemist, Dr. Casagrande has spent his career combining deep scientific expertise with novel methodologies to tackle the most daunting threats facing the nation. He has led more than 50 projects to reduce the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction by guiding government investments in medicines, detection systems, and interdiction platforms. He has analyzed avenues for the possible misuse of advanced biotechnology and recommended means to reduce this risk without hampering scientific or industrial progress. Recently, Dr. Casagrande has focused on transforming biosafety from art to science, hoping to prevent accidents that could imperil global health.

Dr. Ryan Ritterson received a BS in computational engineering science from UC Berkeley and PhD in biophysics from UCSF. Since bringing his decade of experience in synthetic biology to Gryphon in 2015, he has led several assessments of emerging biotechnologies, including examining both the novel risks these technologies present and the potential ways their application could improve our biosecurity defenses. His other primary practice area is biosafety, where he has made landmark contributions to understanding how human errors contribute to accidents.

Dr. Corey Meyer is an interdisciplinary biologist with a BA summa cum laude in chemistry from Harvard and a PhD in biochemistry from Stanford. She brings her interdisciplinary research experience to assessments of the risks and benefits of dual use life sciences research and emerging biotechnologies–assessments geared to inform policies for preventing their deliberate misuse without unduly hampering legitimate R&D activities. Dr. Meyer also has a strong interest in emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) and has led a number of EID risk assessments and international science engagement efforts promoting the One Health approach to EID prevention and control.

Kimberly Legrow began her career at one of the nation’s largest public policy research firms where she learned government project accounting and built her extensive knowledge of cost accounting standards and the FARs. Now as Gryphon’s Business Manager, she is fully responsible for all of Gryphon’s accounting and financial planning and has implemented the company’s state-of-the-art ERP system for real time cost reporting and analysis.

Dr. Margaret Rush, Chief Scientific Officer and Partner, is an interdisciplinary biologist, with expertise in public health, emergency preparedness, data science and one health. As CSO, she focuses on the development of Gryphon’s scientific strategy and fostering research innovation and technical quality of our work. Dr. Rush has been a partner at Gryphon since 2017 and a part of the Gryphon team since 2010. Dr. Rush’s cross-cutting technical position is enabled by her deep technical expertise across the breadth of Gryphon’s work. She has successfully led project work across all practice areas during her tenure, supporting clients at CDC, USAID, FEMA, DOD, and NIH. Dr. Rush has a PhD in Biological Sciences in Public Health from Harvard University, and undergraduate degrees in Biochemistry and History from North Carolina State University.

In her former role as the head of a large research enterprise that focused on domestic public policy research, Joan launched many new practice areas, including a group devoted to law and criminal justice issues, behavioral health, clinical trials and epidemiology, and homeland security. She also maintained her personal interest in research and publication on sentencing and corrections policy. With more than 35 years’ experience solving the challenges of managing a complex research portfolio, she now supports Gryphon’s operations and leads projects for biomedical and health service organizations.