Benjamin Fontes

Ben Fontes has previously worked in the Radiation Protection and Biological Safety Departments in the Environmental Health and Safety Office at Harvard University, serving as Health Physics Technologist, Assistant Biosafety Officer and Associate Biosafety Officer. At Harvard, he assisted with the implementation of the Biosafety program at both the University and at Harvard-affiliated hospitals. He began work at Yale in 1995, where he is currently responsible for management of the campus Biosafety Program and co-management of the EHS Safety Advisor Program. Ben has an undergraduate degree in biology from Wesleyan University (1986) and a MPH in industrial hygiene from the University of Michigan (1995). He is a Certified Biological Safety Professional (1998) and an active member of the American Biological Safety Association (ABSA), where he has served as the 2010 President of the association. He also previously served as an ABSA Councilor (2002 – 2005) and Chair of the ABSA Training and Education Committee (1999 – 2002). Ben is currently on the executive board of the International Federation of Biosafety Associations (IFBA) where he has served as Chair from 2014 – 2017. He has served for the past 3 years as a biosafety twin for new biosafety professionals in the Middle East and North Africa as part of a Sandia National Laboratories twinning and mentorship program, helping his assigned partners with guidance on their biosafety and biosecurity projects.