Dave Engelthaler is a proud Arizona native and has been an active researcher and leader in Public Health in the Southwest for over 30 years. He is currently the Executive Director of the Health Observatory at ASU, the Director of TGen North, the northern Arizona division of the non-profit Translational Genomics Research Institute, and a Professor. Dave’s team coordinated the statewide SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequencing of the first year of the pandemic and conducted clinical testing for tens of thousands of underserved Arizonans, especially in Tribal and rural communities. The majority of Dave’s work over the past three decades has been advancing the state of public health research and application, particularly with next generation science. Dave oversees a number of pathogen research groups and his teams also provide genomic services to CDC, state, local and tribal health departments and Arizona healthcare institutions. Dave was previously the Arizona State Epidemiologist and State Biodefense Coordinator, a biologist for both the CDC and the U.S. Forest Service. He has published over 175 scientific papers and chapters on epidemiology, disease ecology, and genetics, which have been cited over 10,000 times, and he has over two dozen patented inventions, ranging from new antimicrobial drugs, to diagnostics, to software tools. Dave has testified before U.S. Congress, has been approved by state senate confirmation, and has briefed senators, congressmen, governors, state legislators and mayors on public health and health care issues. He sits on numerous local and national boards and commissions and had started both for-profit and non-profit businesses, including STEM City, which supports Flagstaff, AZ as America’s first STEM community.
