Our Team

Caryl Griffin served as the President of the Elizabeth R Griffin Foundation (ERGF) since its inception in 1999 in response to the death of her daughter, Beth, in 1997. Beth, a researcher, died of a laboratory acquired infection, Macacine Herpesvirus 1, following an ocular exposure. Rev. Griffin, an ordained Elder in the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church, served in an appointed extension ministry to the Elizabeth R. Griffin Research Foundation working in the field of Global Health Security. Her work brought experts from multiple disciplines and multilateral perspectives together to forge partnerships that provided innovative solutions for addressing some of the world’s most pressing infectious disease dilemmas as well as addressing biological safety and security issues. Much of Rev. Griffin’s work outside the US has been in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia in the areas of Public Health, Occupational Health, and Biosafety/Biosecurity. She has also served on the advisory board of CRDF Global.

Prior to ordination, Rev. Griffin practiced nursing for 30 years, in hospitals, in clinics, in public health, as well as in hospital administration. She created a national healthcare consulting business for doctors’ offices and hospitals, consulting across the U.S., helping develop more effective methods and processes for the care of patients. She has created and led national leadership/ management workshops and retreats for hospitals and institutions in the US and abroad. Previous work in Ministry includes serving as a Pastor at First Broad Street UMC in Kingsport, TN, and as Director of Wesley Leadership Institute developing continuing education for 700 pastors in the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church. In 1983, Rev. Griffin proposed and developed the ongoing Leadership Kingsport Program for the development of effective community leaders. Her special interests are in the areas of global health, spiritual development, biosafety and security, systems development, Leadership, as well as life and stress management. She has published articles in the areas of biosafety, play therapy for children, and public health nursing. 

Caryl received a B.S. in Nursing from University of Tennessee College of Nursing in Memphis, a Master of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing from Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA, and a Master of Divinity from Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA.

Jim Welch served 19 years as the executive director of the Elizabeth R Griffin Research Foundation where he managed the Foundation from its original mission of improving occupational health awareness in the non-human primate research community into its expanded mission of working nationally and globally promoting biosafety and biosecurity. With a strong desire for the important global health security work of the Foundation to continue past his retirement, he navigated the transition of the non-profit Foundation into an ongoing and vibrant university-based program.

As the executive director of ERGF, Jim was the originating chair of the steering group of the Global Health Security Agenda Consortium (GHSAC), the first NGO member of the Global Health Security Agenda Steering Group and served on the International Working Group on Strengthening the Culture of Biosafety, Biosecurity, and Responsible Conduct in the Life Sciences. He has been associated with the Joint External Evaluation International Alliance (JEE), the OIE Consultation Group on Sustainable Biosafety and Biosecurity, and served for over a decade on the advisory board of the National Biosafety and Biocontainment Training Program at the US National Institutes of Health. He served on the governing councils of the International Federation of Biosafety Associations (IFBA) and ABSA International. He was as a named member of the Law Enforcement and Veterinary International Conference at INTERPOL, an external advisor for the Duke University Infectious Disease Response Training Program, served in multiple programs organized by the National Academies of Science and AAAS, and was a member of the Global Health Security Roundtable. He was the 2011 recipient of the John H Richardson Award of ABSA International and holds honorary memberships with the Association of Primate Veterinarians and the International Biosafety Working Group. 

Dr. Julie E. Fischer is a global health security and biosecurity professional with more than two decades of experience forging collaborations with a broad range of partners to understand and address biological threats. 

Dr. Fischer served as the first Technical Director for Global Health at CRDF Global from 2020-2024, establishing a multidisciplinary, multi-country team to support the mission of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to strengthen partner capacities to prevent, detect, and respond rapidly to emerging disease threats. Previously, she served as Director of the Elizabeth R. Griffin Program (ERGP) and an Associate Research Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Georgetown University, working with researchers, experts and funding partners to promote local, sustainable, and evidence-based biological risk management practices for life sciences and diagnostic laboratories. Before she joined Georgetown, Dr. Fischer led global health security programs in the Department of Health Policy and Management at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health and at the Stimson Center.

Dr. Fischer has served as a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors for the CDC Office of Readiness and Response; the US Department of State’s International Security Advisory Board (ISAB); and the Board of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) Consortium, a voluntary alliance of non-governmental entities dedicated to promoting values of collaboration, excellence, innovation, and commitment to achieve a world safe and secure from infectious disease threats. 

Dr. Fischer is a former Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Congressional Science & Technology Fellow. Dr. Fischer received a PhD in microbiology and immunology from Vanderbilt University and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Washington and the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute.