President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts, 5-6-09

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals for key administration posts: Tara O'Toole, Under Secretary for Science & Technology, Department of Homeland Security and Laurie O. Robinson, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs, Department of Justice.

President Obama said, "The proven expertise and commitment these individuals bring to the table make them valuable additions to my administration as we tackle the many challenges our nation faces. I am confident that they will be effective advocates on behalf of the American people, and I look forward to working with them in the coming months and years."

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals today:

Tara O'Toole, Nominee for Under Secretary for Science & Technology, Department of Homeland Security
Tara O'Toole, M.D., M.P.H. is CEO and director of the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), and professor of medicine and of public health at the University of Pittsburgh. UPMC’s Center for Biosecurity is an independent organization dedicated to improving the country’s resilience to major biological threats. Prior to founding the center in 2003, Dr. O’Toole was one of the original members of the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies and served as its director from 2001 to 2003. She has served on numerous government and expert advisory committees dealing with biodefense. In 2004, she was elected Chair of the Board of the Federation of American Scientists, and in 2006 she was appointed to the Board of the Google Foundation’s International Networked System for Total Early Disease Detection. From 1993 to 1997, Dr. O’Toole served as assistant secretary for Environment Safety and Health at the Department of Energy. Prior to that, she was a senior analyst at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, where she directed studies of the health impact of pollution resulting from nuclear weapons production, among other projects. Dr. O’Toole practiced general internal medicine in community health centers in Baltimore from 1984 to 1988. She is board certified in internal medicine and in occupational and environmental health. She has a bachelor's degree from Vassar College, an M.D. from the George Washington University, and an M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University. She completed internal medicine residency training at Yale and a fellowship in Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. At the National Academies, Dr. O’Toole served on the Working Group on Biological Weapons Control, and is currently serving on the Committee on Technical and Privacy Dimensions of Information for Terrorism Prevention and Other National Goals.

Laurie O. Robinson, Nominee for Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs, Department of Justice
Laurie O. Robinson was named Acting Assistant Attorney General/Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General on January 28, 2009.  Robinson previously served as Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs from 1993 to 2000.  During her tenure in the Clinton Administration, Robinson oversaw the largest increase in federal spending on criminal justice research in the nation's history.  Between 2001 and January of this year, she served as a Distinguished Senior Scholar in the University of Pennsylvania’s Jerry Lee Center of Criminology, and as Executive Director of its Forum on Crime & Justice.  In 2004 Robinson launched a Criminology Master of Science Program at Penn, which she continued to direct until leaving to join the Department of Justice in January.  Prior to joining the Department of Justice in 1993, Robinson was the director of the American Bar Association's Section of Criminal Justice for 14 years, where she founded the ABA's Juvenile Justice Center and had responsibility for policy development, work with Congress, and development of special projects in such areas as crime victims, prisons, and police procedures.