Christopher J. Woolverton, PhD

Christopher J. Woolverton, Ph.D., is professor of epidemiology in the College of Public Health at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. Woolverton is a recipient of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine's Jefferson Science Fellowship (2020-2021). He is a member of the Graduate Faculty of the Kent State University College of Public Health, School of Biomedical Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences and the Northeastern Ohio Medical University. Woolverton serves on the faculty of the National Biosafety and Biosecurity Training Program of the NIH and is the manager of the NIH Designated Training Facility (BSL-3 Training Laboratory) at Kent State. He is also a member of the Cooperative Medical Technology Program of Akron (OH) faculty. Woolverton received his graduate training in medical microbiology from West Virginia University School of Medicine. He spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow studying cellular immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Woolverton has received additional training in biological safety, security and policy analysis from MIT, ABSA International (formerly American Biological Safety Association); and Emory University; and training in coronavirus contact tracing from the Johns Hopkins University. He has been at Kent State since 1995.

Woolverton’s research is focused on the detection and control of bacterial pathogens, and biological safety and security issues. He is co-inventor of the liquid crystal biosensor and co-inventor of the fibrin sealant antimicrobial drug delivery system. His teaching scholarship is centered on adult learning. He has presented and published, internationally, his biosensor, antimicrobial drug delivery, biosafety, and pedagogical research.

Woolverton previously served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education, the pedagogical journal of the American Society for Microbiology. He is a member of several societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society for Microbiology, Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, ABSA International, and the Ohio Public Health Association. He is the co-author of the undergraduate textbook Prescott’s Microbiology (7th-10th editions). He is an international lecturer on biosafety and biosecurity, as well as, liquid crystal biosensors. Woolverton also serves on the city of Kent Board of Health and the Portage County (OH) Medical Reserve Corp.