About this Event
AI, Biodefense, and the Future of Biological Threat Detection
This discussion will examine how artificial intelligence is reshaping the biological threat landscape. On one hand, it’s lowering the barriers that once slowed the development and dispersal of dangerous pathogens—a shift with real consequences for force protection and community safety. On the other, that same acceleration needs to be leveraged to advance our ability to detect and respond, making it possible to identify and track threats before they spread, moving the fight further left of the crisis point. This session examines both sides of that shift, and what technical, policy, and institutional investments are needed now to make sure warning and detection capabilities keep pace with the threat.
About the Speakers
Lieutenant General (Retired) John Evans is an accomplished senior executive whose leadership skills were refined during 36 years of Army service.
John has led complex organizations in special operations, higher level education and the joint-interagency domestic/disaster response communities.
He has the innate ability to operationalize and solve complex problems while building and optimizing diverse teams.
John grows collaborative and productive partnerships while building bridges between cultures, nations, military forces and civil organizations.
Just prior to his move to the private sector, John was the Commanding General, US Army North where he maintained a focus on homeland defense, protection of national critical infrastructure, defense support to civil authorities and engagement with Canadian and Mexican partners.
During his tenure at Army North, John led joint and interagency exercises across the national response community while managing budgets in excess of $400M.
John led the DoD response to COVID in 2021 and was the architect of Operation Allies Welcome assisting the Department of Homeland Security in finding homes for over 74,000 Afghan guests and refugees.
Prior to commanding Army North, John commanded US Army Cadet Command where he led over 975 senior Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs at America’s colleges and universities while simultaneously administering 1700 junior ROTC programs at America’s high schools.
John served as commanding general of the Army’s one-of-a-kind Special Operations Aviation Command deploying helicopter forces across the world in support of our nation’s most elite and guarded operations.
While commanding this element he managed military aircraft development programs in excess of $3B.
Lieutenant General (retired) Evans spent the last 8 ½ years of his military career in general officer command, a testament to his natural abilities, drive, adaptability and servant leadership.
John is an experienced and decisive leader in strategic planning, large organization operations, resource stewardship, aviation employment/sustainment and crisis management.
He holds Master’s degrees from Kansas State University and the US Naval War College in Education and National Security respectively.
He also served as a resident Federal Executive Fellow at the esteemed Brookings Institution in Washington DC. John serves as a strategic advisor and board member for several national defense sector partners.
He is affiliated with numerous professional military, veteran and non-profit civic organizations.
Drosten Fisher is a member of the Growth Team at Valthos, where he works with customers to bring them leading capabilities in AI-enabled biodefense.
Drosten has spent his career helping firms serve customers, and scale rapidly.
Most recently he was an early employee at Cape where he grew the Navy team from a pilot to a $300M Program. He has also worked at Amazon (AWS), DataRobot, and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he was a Partner in the NYC office, specializing in GTM Strategy.
Earlier in his career, Drosten worked with former PACOM Commander Admiral Fallon to support strategic defense captures in Asia and Europe.
He was a researcher to former CIA Director George Tenet on his memoir “At the Center of the Storm,” and also assisted His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan with his book “Our Last Best Chance.”
Drosten is a graduate of Oxford and Georgetown Universities, and a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
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