Michael Boechler, Ph.D.
Director of Research and Development
Leveraging 15+ years of experience as a statistician and researcher, Dr. Michael Boechler has developed innovative models illustrating the progression and consequences as well as impacts of mitigating strategies for numerous chemical and biological events, including anthrax, plague, tularemia, smallpox, pandemic influenza, and nerve agent. Developed for the Federal Government, his models have been used to guide policy decisions and acquisition strategies and support Secretary of Defense-initiated exercises for congressional members and senior Executive Branch officials.
Dr. Boechler developed an epidemiological model to aid Federal public health decision makers in evaluating multiple policy options for a biological event in one of the nation’s largest cities, one in which more than a million people would be at risk. This model, used to determine which strategies would save the most lives, was selected by the Department of Health and Human Services over a similar tool developed by a leading research university. He also simulated the effects of an intentional airborne dispersion of anthrax over a large urban area in which 10 million people would be at risk, gathering and incorporating data from the Federal civilian and military agencies as well as state and local emergency management personnel. This model indicated which Department of Defense (DoD) strategies would have the most impact on lives saved, and projected the economic consequences of the attack.
Dr. Boechler has also conducted studies to support detection of biological events. He was the principal analyst for a DoD study that examined the fidelity with which an urban release of biological warfare agent can be reconstructed and a study of the feasibility of mobile sensors in an urban environment. Specializing in the use of performance-based metrics to help Federal, state, and local agencies improve disaster response, Dr. Boechler has developed and applied performance measures to the evaluation of state and local emergency response systems and developed performance measures for a multi-billion-dollar Federal program to assist in compliance with the Government Performance and Results Act. He has also assisted in design of training materials for emergency response planning to elicit group dialogue on civilian casualty decontamination, optimal allocation of emergency medical responder resources, and chemical hazard detection.
Dr. Boechler has a Ph.D. in Biological Psychology and a Bachelor’s in Psychology.
