Ms. Patricia (Patty) Olinger is the Executive Director of the Global Biorisk Advisory Council, (GBAC), a division of ISSA, the world’s leading trade association for the cleaning industry. GBAC is recognized worldwide, as a leader in training, education, and certification for Biorisk management, Forensic Restoration®, decontamination and infection/contamination control disciplines. GBAC is also the creator and administrator for the GBAC STARTM facility accreditation program. A program designed to assist facilities, institutions, companies and governments to Prepare, Respond & Recover from events involving infectious diseases including pandemics. Patty has been involved with the development of international standards for biorisk management for over 20 years and is the current convener (team leader) for the ISO working group that developed the ISO standard for Biorisk Management, ISO 35001:2019.
Previous to joining ISSA-GBAC, Patty was an Assistant Vice President in the Office of Research Administration and the Executive Director of the Environmental, Health and Safety Office (EHSO) at Emory University. During her 13-year tenure, EHSO had University-wide responsibility for all aspects of Environmental, Health and Safety support, including EHS compliance support to Emory Healthcare. This included Biosafety support to the Emory Serious Communicable Diseases Unit (SCDU), which cared for 4 Ebola patients in 2014. Prior to joining Emory in 2006, Patty spent 21 years in the Pharmaceutical Industry, providing support to both human and animal health research, developing a true OneHealth perspective. From 2013-2018, Patty supported the Elizabeth R. Griffin Foundation (ERGF), as both a board member and leading initiatives on global Biorisk management obtaining practical experience with staff and facilities in extremely low resource environments worldwide.
Ms. Olinger is a Registered Biosafety Professional, a Certified Forensic Operator, a Certified Bio-Forensic Restoration Specialist, has a BS in Biochemistry and a Masters of Law with a focus on International Public Health. She has a true passion in Public Health Biorisk Preparedness, Response and Recovery.