Dee Pettit Email and Phone Number

Teaching experience includes: Virginia Commonwealth/Medical College of Virginia School of Medicine, School of Dentistry, and School of Pharmacy Infection and Immunity, Medical Microbiology (MIC 516), Drugs and Their Actions (PMC 400), Introduction to Toxicology (PMC 400), and Principles of Pharmacology (PMC 536)

Dr. Pettit served as a Lead Scientist at the Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services (DCLS), a large complex and diverse laboratory that provides analytical testing support to approximately 26 state agencies and federal partners. The position of Lead Scientist afforded her the unique opportunity to build, manage, and direct laboratory emergency response teams compromised of Scientists and Administrators from a variety of disciplines working together to meet customer’s needs for responsiveness, efficiency, and quality. These teams had an excellent track record for producing results with a limited budget and were recognized at the State (Virginia’s 2003 Governor’s Teamwork Award) and National level for the contributions they made to ensuring the safety and well being of citizens. Through the acquisition of grant funds to address Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response, she managed operating budgets ranging from $143,000 to $5,304,826 annually. Her other duties included the development, implementation and validation of new and standard testing strategies to detect and characterize unique biological agents that affect the environment and/or promote disease. She has been involved with the development and implementation of laboratory-based surveillance strategies to detect the presence of biothreat agents during National events, such as the Presidential Inauguration, and emerging infectious disease agents during outbreaks, such as those associated with West Nile and Influenza viruses. She worked collaboratively with State (i.e. Virginia Departments of Health, Agriculture and Consumer Services, and Environmental Quality) and Federal (i.e. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Department of Homeland Security, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, and the United States Postal Service) agencies to develop testing strategies and response plans for biological emergency incidents.