Our Experts
Taylor Sexton, MPH
Executive Director
Taylor has a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) from the University of North Texas Health Science Center and a B.S. from Texas A&M University. He is adjunct public health faculty at Texas A&M University and maintains his board certification by the National Board of Public Health Examiners.
Taylor is a principal at Todd Strategy Group since 2021 after serving as a Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He advised the ASPR on many critical issues including the development and execution of Operation Warp Speed. Taylor also served HHS as the Deputy Director of the HHS Joint Information Center (JIC) where he led a team to coordinate response within the interagency.
Before joining HHS and Texas A&M University, Taylor worked for Chairman Michael Burgess, MD overseeing the reauthorization of the Pandemic All Hazards Act (PAHPA). Prior to this role he practiced epidemiology for one of the largest health departments in the country leading zoonotic and High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID) surveillance. Through this role he was recognized by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology for a top cited article on infant outcomes of Zika evaluating both diagnostics and surveillance.
John Redd, MD, MPH, FACP
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. John Redd is the Chief Medical Officer of the Medical Countermeasures Coalition. He is an internist and medical epidemiologist who recently completed a 26-year career in government service. He received a BA from Harvard College and an MD from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, then completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and earned a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology at Columbia University in New York.
He began his government career as an internist with the US Indian Health Service (IHS) on the Navajo Reservation. He then started a 20-year uniformed career with the US Public Health Service by training as a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Epidemic Intelligence Service officer. While in uniform, he held positions with CDC, IHS, and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), at which he served as Chief Medical Officer. He retired as a Captain in 2020.
During the CDC Ebola response in West Africa, Dr. Redd served in multiple CDC leadership positions in Sierra Leone and received the Public Health Service Meritorious Service Medal and the State Department Superior Honor Award for his Ebola service.
During the COVID-19 response, he was an ASPR field leader in the initial response to the pandemic in California and Japan, and then was appointed lead of the Healthcare Resilience Task Force. He then led HHS teams supervising allocation and distribution of new therapeutics, including remdesivir and monoclonal antibodies. For his service during the COVID19 response he received the United States Public Health Service Distinguished Service Medal, the highest award presented by the United States Public Health Service.
Dr. Redd is the co-author of over ninety publications. He was elected a Fellow of the American College of Physicians in 2002 and was a 2010-2011 Public Health Leadership Institute Scholar. After leaving government he has worked as an independent consultant (John T Redd LLC).
Gerry Parker, DVM, PhD
Board Member
Dr. Parker graduated from Texas A&M’s College of Veterinary Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Currently, Dr. Parker is the Associate Dean for Global One Health at the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, and in this role, he also serves as Campus Director for Global One Health at Texas A&M University. He holds an appointment at the Bush School of Government Service as Director of the Pandemic and Biosecurity Policy Program at the Scowcroft Institute for International Affairs within the Bush School of Government & Public Service.
Parker is a member of several advisory boards, including the Texas Task Force on Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response, ex officio member for the Bi-partisan Commission for Biodefense, and chairperson for the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Parker also served as a senior for advisor for the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health and Human Services from August 2020 to February 2021.
Dr. Parker has held technical to executive leadership positions throughout 36 years of public service as a recognized defense and civilian interagency leader in biodefense, high consequence emerging infectious diseases, global health security and all-hazards public health/medical preparedness. Dr. Parker’s service includes more than 26 years on active duty leading military medical research and development programs and organizations. He is a former Commander and Deputy Commander, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. Dr. Parker held senior executive level positions at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Defense (DOD).
