Dorothy Canter, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor
Dr. Dorothy Canter is a senior professional biophysicist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. From November 2001 through June 2005, she served as the Chief Scientist for Bioterrorism Issues in the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She participated in the overall cleanup process for the Capitol Hill Anthrax Site. Based upon the lessons learned from that cleanup, she contributed actively to the implementation of more stringent criteria for future cleanups and served as co-chair of the Technical Working Groups for the remediation of two facilities needing fumigations. Based upon these experiences, she has developed unique expertise in biothreat agent decontamination. During the past two years, she has been actively engaged in activities for the protection of critical infrastructure. In particular, she was a key organizer for the June 2005 Airport Preparedness Workshop and has worked on airport protection issues since then. She served on the organizing committee for the two environmental sampling conferences on biothreat agents and contributed a chapter to the book on the first conference. Dr. Canter has published widely in the peer-reviewed literature and given numerous lectures at national and international meetings on anthrax decontamination, residual risk and preparedness activities.
Prior to joining APL, she worked at EPA for 15 years, serving until 2001 as the OSWER Science Policy Advisor. She was an expert on incineration risk assessment, toxicity of environmental chemicals, and peer review of highly controversial scientific issues. Prior to joining EPA, she served for ten years as Assistant to the Director, National Toxicology Program. She also worked for four years at the Consumer Product Safety Commission, evaluating the toxic effects of chemicals in consumer products. Dr. Canter received both a B.S. in mathematics and a Ph.D. in biophysics from The George Washington University.
