Sanford Weiner

SANFORD L. WEINER is a Research Associate at the Security Studies Progam, in MIT's Center for International Studies. He has written about organizational change and innovation in both military and public health agencies. He is now studying incentives for risk assessment and implementation among agencies responsible for biosecurity, including the policymaking process for pandemic flu. He is also working with Harvey Sapolsky on a study of innovation in the Defense Department. He is the Course Director for the SPP summer Professional Courses on "Promoting Innovation: The Dynamics of Technology and Organizations," and "Combatting Bioterrorism/ Pandemics: Implementing Policies for Biosecurity." For more information on the courses see http://web.mit.edu/ssp/summer/index.html

He has previously studied the development of the JSTARS radar plane for the Air Force, as well as policymaking on many health and environmental risks. He has examined the role of the Centers for Disease Control in both emerging infectious diseases (toxic shock syndrome, swine flu) and toxic substances (lead). He has also written an analysis of the phaseout of CFC's for the protection of the ozone layer. Before MIT he worked at the Health Policy Center at Brandeis, and the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He has also been a researcher at Queen Mary's College, University of London.