Dr. Nancy Connell is Professor Emerita at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS), where she serves as chair of the Dual Use Research of Concern Committee, and policy and education advisor to the NJMS Regional Biocontainment Laboratory. Most recently working as a Senior Scholar at the US National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) in the Division of Policy and Governmental Affairs, Professor Connell focuses on advances in life sciences and technology and their application to developments in biosecurity, biosafety, and biodefense. She has had a long-standing interest in regulatory policies associated with biocontainment work, dual-use research of concern and, more recently, the intersection of AI and life sciences. Professor Connell is a past member of the Board on Life Sciences and currently a member of the Committee on International Security and Arms Control (CISAC). She is a National Associate of NASEM, having served on over 15 committees. Among other national and international committees, she was a member of the US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity. Professor Connell was a tenured Professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Senior Scientist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security from 2018-2021. Having received her PhD in microbial genetics from Harvard, Professor Connell was an investigator in microbial genetics and drug discovery at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) from1992-2018, finishing her long career there as Professor in the Division of Infectious Disease and Director of Research in the Department of Medicine.