School of Public Health dean named to CDC’s National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Board of Scientific Counselors

Shawn Gibbs, PhD, MBA, CIH, dean and professor at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health, has been named to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Board of Scientific Counselors by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra. The board is a federal advisory committee that provides advice and guidance to the NIOSH director on occupational safety, health research and prevention programs.

Gibbs is an internationally respected certified industrial hygienist with expertise in the disruption of highly infectious diseases such as COVID-19, mpox, highly pathogenic avian influenza, Ebola virus disease and others. He regularly lends his expertise and guidance to national and international organizations, including the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command and the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine through his appointment to the Committee on Respiratory Protection for the Public and Workers without Respiratory Protection Programs at their Workplaces.

In 2023, Gibbs was selected to the Board for Global Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Credentialing, the premier global credentialing body for environmental, health and safety professionals. He received the 2022 Industrial Hygiene Impact Award from the same organization based on his research and development of best practices in response to globally emergent, highly infectious disease management, training, controls and policy.

Gibbs played an integral role in the COVID-19 pandemic through advising policymakers and organizational leaders. He was appointed to lead Texas A&M’s COVID-19 response and served on the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Medical Task Force. Because of his work, he received the Michael L. Slive Distinguished Service Award for his leadership and significant impact to the betterment of the SEC mission.

Previously, as director of research for the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit (2009-2015), he coordinated research efforts across public health, medicine, nursing and other disciplines to protect health care workers who treat highly infectious patients. During the 2014 Ebola outbreaks, he collaborated with stakeholders to create policies and procedures that addressed the needs of the United States to serve Americans returning from overseas. He helped lead the repatriation of three individuals infected with the Ebola virus disease and dozens of other individuals with high-risk exposures. Through these efforts he helped establish the National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center and remains involved in their efforts.

Gibbs obtained a Bachelor of Science in biology at The Ohio State University. While working as a contractor for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, he attended the University of Cincinnati where he earned both a Master of Science in environmental engineering and a Doctor of Philosophy in environmental science. While serving as associate dean at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, he completed an MBA in agribusiness at the University of Nebraska.

The Texas A&M School of Public Health is the fifth-largest school of public health student body nationally and the largest in Texas and has over $36 million in new research awards last fiscal year. Among some of its many impacts, the school is providing tailored opioid prevention services and implementing a comprehensive educational program for Texas schoolchildren K-1, serving as the independent evaluators of the Texas Medicaid 1115 Waiver, and is home to Rural Healthy People 2030 – a companion piece to Healthy People 2030 and one-of-a-kind national resource.