AIM ImmunoTech Inc. announced the appointment of W. Neal Burnette, Ph.D., as Chairman of its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Burnette is an experienced biomedical research scientist in academia, industry, and the military, and consultant and corporate executive for development-stage biomedical companies. He received his doctoral training in retrovirology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, was a postdoctoral fellow in molecular biology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and was on the research staffs of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Salk Institute.

Dr. Burnette was one of the very earliest scientists of Amgen, where he led programs that resulted in the first experimental recombinant vaccines for hepatitis B, pertussis, cholera, and a number of animal infectious diseases. He was subsequently the Director and acting CEO, COO, and CSO of a number of smaller biomedical companies and remains a consultant in vaccine research, biomedical business development, corporate management, and capital acquisition for early-stage companies. Among his other contributions to medical science were the development of the first “genetic toxoids” for pertussis and cholera, and the invention of the widely used laboratory and diagnostic technique known as “Western blotting”.

Colonel Burnette retired in 2005 from the Army after 35 years in the active and reserve components, where he served in various field medical and combat operations staff and command assignments of ever increasing responsibility. As a reservist with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC) in the 1990's, he was a senior infectious disease consultant to the command. Immediately after 9/11, he was again recalled to active duty at Fort Detrick where he laid the groundwork for ID-IDEAL, the first-ever quantitative, algorithmic, acquisition-sensitive assessment of endemic infectious disease threats to future military operations.

He was subsequently transferred to the Pentagon as the assistant Joint Services Program Executive Officer for Chemical and Biological Defense (JPEO-CBD), where he oversaw all Department of Defense acquisition programs for medical countermeasures against biological, chemical, and radiological threat agents. Among his responsibilities, he: advised on all issues relating to DoD, national, and international medical CBD requirements; created comprehensive strategies for protecting U.S. and allied forces from Chemical Warfare and Biological Defense (“CBW”) threats; provided technical and programmatic evaluation of all CBD efforts and products, from conception through advanced development; represented all medical CBD interests within the DoD, with other U.S. Government agencies, the U.S. Congress, civilian industry, academia, and allied nations. Among his contributions in the JPEO-CBD during his tenure were: acquisition of smallpox vaccine; full-rate production and distribution of anthrax vaccine for the DoD, DHHS, and DHS; and responsibility for intra- and inter-agency operability, particularly relating to vaccine/drug acquisition and to Project Bioshield.

As a member of President Bush'sInteragency Working Group on Weapons of Mass Destruction, Colonel Burnette sat on its senior steering panel and on six separate subgroups (acquisition, requirements, industrial relations, research gaps, diagnostics, and drugs). Likewise, he was a member of the DoD Vaccine Allocation Committee during Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Boards of Directors of the JPEO-CBD and USAMRMC and is a Certified Professional Acquisition Officer in Program Management. Composition of SAB members: William Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D., Ronald Brus, M.D., Christopher Nicodemus, M.D. and Philip Ransom Roane, Ph.D.