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SNA Team
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Amanda Sozer, Ph.D.
Amanda Sozer is the President of Sozer Niezgoda and Associates, LLC. Dr. Sozer received her undergraduate degree from Rutgers University and her Ph.D. in 1989 from the University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory with a specialization in genetics and an emphasis in biotechnology.
Dr. Sozer began her career in DNA identification in 1990 at Cellmark Diagnostics and then accepted a position at Fairfax Identity Laboratories in 1992 where, as the Associate Director, she managed all aspects of the laboratory operations for paternity, convicted offender testing, and forensic casework. The laboratory performed high-volume DNA testing employing over 70 employees.
Dr. Sozer served as a Technical Contractor to the National Institute of Justice and worked on the DNA backlog reduction programs for no-suspect forensic cases and the convicted offender outsourcing programs. In addition, Dr. Sozer facilitated the National Institute of Justice Kinship and Data Analysis Panel for the World Trade Center Victim Identification Program and was instrumental in writing the Lessons Learned from 9/11: DNA Identification in Mass Fatality Incidents.
Dr. Sozer assisted the State of Louisiana by managing the Hurricane Katrina victim DNA identification project and facilitating the Hurricane Victim DNA Identification Expert Group. In addition, Dr Sozer currently assists governmental agencies world-wide develop and expand their DNA programs.
Dr. Sozer is a former Regional Chair of the Parentage Testing Accreditation Unit of the American Association of Blood Banks and a member of the Human Identity Trade Association, the International Society for Forensic Genetics, the American Society of Human Genetics, the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, the American College of Forensic Examiners, the American Society of Forensic Sciences, the American Association for Quality and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.
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Stephen J. Niezgoda, Jr. MBA
Steve Niezgoda is the Director of Sozer, Niezgoda and Associates as well as the President of Niezgoda Consulting. Mr. Niezgoda received his B.Sc. In Civil Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and a Masters in Business Administration in 1989 from George Mason University.
Mr. Niezgoda served for five years as the Program Manager for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). Mr. Niezgoda managed this multimillion-dollar national program employing 40+ personnel to support a computer technology that allows federal state and local crime laboratories solve crimes by comparing DNA found at crime scenes with DNA from convicted offenders which aided 1000+ criminal investigations. Mr. Niezgoda was responsible for strategic and tactical Planning, budget, contract preparation and contract administration for $47 million in software services.
As a principal in solutions delivery for Diamond Cluster International, Mr. Niezgoda conceived and implemented digital strategies for Fortune 500 and startup companies. Mr. Niezgoda successfully led high-risk, high-impact, short-deadline projects in the area of web-based services.
Mr. Niezgoda served as a technical contractor to the National Institute of Justice and worked on the DNA backlog reduction programs for no-suspect forensic cases and the convicted offender outsourcing programs. In addition, Mr. Niezgoda participated in the National Institute of Justice Kinship and Data Analysis Panel for the World Trade Center Victim Identification Program and was instrumental in writing the Lessons Learned from 9/11: DNA Identification in Mass Fatality Incidents.
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David A. Boyer, MFS
David Boyer, a forensic consultant, provides management in DNA operations and death investigations.
Since 1997 David Boyer served as the program manager for the United States Department of Defense (DoD) DNA reference specimen collection program and the Director of Operations of the DoD DNA Repository since 1997. At the DOD Mr. Boyer oversaw the collection, cataloging and storage of 5 million DNA samples. Prior to joining AFIP, Mr. Boyer was a criminal investigator in the US Army CID, with more than 20 years experience, specializing in death investigations.
Mr. Boyer received a BS degree from the University of Maryland in 1984 and a Masters of Forensic Sciences Degree from the George Washington University in 1986. He also completed a one-year Forensic Medicine Fellowship at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in 1986. Mr. Boyer is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and has attended the NTSB Aircraft Accident Investigation Course.
Mr. Boyer served as the lead responder for the DoD DNA Registry in mass casualty incidents. His deployments include: Gulfport, Mississippi and St. Gabriel, Louisiana for Hurricane Katrina; American Commuter Connection Flt #5966, Kirksville, Missouri; The Space Shuttle Columbia; US Air Express Flt #5481, Charlotte, North Carolina; the Tri-State Crematory incident, Noble, Georgia; United Flt #93, Somerset, PA; American Flt #77, the Pentagon, Washington, DC; Alaska Air Flt #261, Ventura, California; and Egypt Air Flt #990. In addition, Mr. Boyer was appointed by the State of Louisiana Crime Laboratory as a member of the Hurricane Victim DNA Identification Expert Group.
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Susan Docherty Peters, RN, MSN, CPHIMS
Susan Peters is a Senior Management Consultant of Inverness Technologies, Inc. and the President of Enabling Health Information, Inc.; both companies provide expertise in management consulting, technology solutions and health information management systems.
Ms. Peters has over 25 years experience in management highlighted by sixteen years as a medical officer in the United States Air Force. Her experience includes nine years as implementation manager of the $1.6 billion Composite Health Care System, strategic planner and consultant for the $500 million Department of Defense (DoD) Military Health System (MHS) Information Management and Information Technology Program. Her experience also includes helping both Federal and other government organizations with business process management and technology assessment.
Ms. Peters served as a technical consultant supporting two initiatives of the Iraqi Reconstruction Project for the Military Health System and Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. Most recently, Ms. Peters supported the State of Louisiana Hurricane Katrina victim DNA identification project and led the electronic Health Capabilities Concept Exploration project for the MHS to evaluate single sign on, secure messaging and context management technology solutions for integration into the MHS architecture.
Ms. Peters received her undergraduate degree from Washington State University and her graduate degree in adult health and teaching from the University of South Alabama. She also has completed postgraduate work in project management and management information systems. Ms. Peters is a Certified Professional in Health Information Management Systems, and is a member of the Health Information Management Information Systems Society and Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society.
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George R. Riley, Ph.D.
George Riley the founder of DNA Consulting Associates has a PhD in biology from Georgetown University and did postdoctoral research in genetics and molecular biology at the University of Washington and Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, and has published on developmental biochemistry, developmental genetics, mitochondrial genetics and molecular biology, human identity testing and forensic DNA analysis. He was the Scientific Director and Forensic Laboratory Director at the Genelex Corporation, where he validated and implemented high-volume DNA testing for convicted offenders.
Dr Riley started the forensic laboratory and was the Forensic Laboratory Director at Fairfax Identity Laboratories, where he implemented high volume criminal casework testing, which involved forensic method validation, creation and modification of procedures and quality system documents, process implementation and improvement, LIMS software management and improvement, technical management, supervision of 5-6 scientists and project management for contracts with ten state and regional crime laboratories. He has over ten years of forensic DNA experience as forensic analyst, technical leader and laboratory director. He has analyzed or reviewed over 600 forensic cases and has reviewed the analysis of over 10,000 DNA samples. He has quality management experience, currently serving as an assessor for two lab accrediting bodies, FQS-I (ISO17025/FBI QAS for forensic labs) and the AABB (for relationship testing labs). Dr. Riley has managed and participated in projects ranging from contract high-volume backlog reduction testing to the Hurricane Katrina Victim Identification project.
Dr. Riley is a member of the Criminalistics Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB), Sigma Xi, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
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Arbie Goings, Jr.
Mr. Goings is an owner and consultant for his company, Goings Consulting Services, LLC, specializing in funeral home, family assistance and disaster consulting. Most recently served as the director of the Louisiana Family assistance Center in Baton Rouge. He also speaks around the country on the subject of the Louisiana Family Assistance Center (the hurricane Katrina/Rita family assistance center that operated for a year in Baton Rouge) and preplanning for family assistance centers as related to mass fatalities.
Mr. Goings began his funeral service career in 1981 working for Rabenhorst Funeral Home in Baton Rouge. Earning his Associates Degree in funeral service at Delgado Community College in New Orleans worked for Rabenhorst until 2006 participating in every aspect of funeral service. This firm doing over 1200 calls a year afforded Mr. Goings the opportunity to serve thousands Louisiana families in their time of need and gain much valuable experience pertaining to the funeral industry.
Recruited by DMORT (Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team) in 1998, Mr. Goings began his association with this federal agency. Deployed by DMORT to not only Katrina/Rita relief efforts but also after the New York 9-11 attacks, and Flight 587 crash shortly thereafter in Queens, New York. He also deployed to east Texas for the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster working out of a volunteer fire department building in Hemphill, Texas and recently to Lexington, KY for the Comair 5191 incident.
In 2001 served over two months as one of two DMORT supervisors assigned to the Data Entry unit of the New York City Office of Chief Medial Examiner (OCME) in response to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centers. There he participated in the daily operations and development of administrative policies and procedures for the OCME as it supported relief efforts for the World Trade Center destruction. He worked closely with OCME in developing short and long range timelines and an exit strategy for DMORT operations. While there interacted with nearly every department of the OCME to include pathology, legal, IT, morgue operations, and others. Coordinated with the White House in providing legal next of kin information for the President and with the Japanese Consulate in providing information on Japanese nationals as they were identified.
In response to the Flight 587 crash, he directly supported setting up operations for the Family Assistance Center and general operations center. He procured staff and equipment to establish the FAC for the crash response. Additionally, he developed and implemented procedures for the timely and effective interviewing of family members of crash victims and served as the liaison officer between the FAC and the OCME.
Working in Texas with the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster, he both participated in and led search teams as they combed the rugged east Texas countryside for shuttle debris and human remains. While there worked closely with various local, state and federal agencies to include, FBI, NASA, USSAR, Texas State Police, Texas Forestry Division, and others.
Deployed to Lexington, KY for the Comair 5191 crash where he closely worked with the NTSB, airline representatives, Coroners office, Medical Examiners office, hotel employees, Douglas Mortuary and the families of the victims. Assisted in establishing family interview activities and protocols, preparing the interview rooms with assistance from the hotel staff, assigning staff for the purposes of interviewing families, scheduling the interviews, and participated in the interview process.
During the hurricanes Katrina/Rita disaster, Mr. Goings was deployed on day one by DMORT and was on the ground in Baton Rouge, St. Gabriel, Carville and New Orleans For the first three weeks, worked with the strike teams in New Orleans coordinating their recovery efforts and assisted in establishing transfer sites throughout the city daily working with the U.S. Coast Guard, various branches of the military, and other governmental and private agencies. After three weeks in the field, Mr. Goings was assigned to the family assistance center and was later appointed Deputy Incident Commander with responsibility for supervising the entire DMORT staff and operations at the FAC until DMORT was demobilized in March of 2006. On a daily basis he worked closely with Louisiana state agencies, FEMA, NDMS, USPHS, the State Corner's Office, Federal Protection Service, DNA experts, Victims Relief Ministries, local temporary employment agencies, volunteers, and the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab. Then made the transition from DMORT to working with Anser Analytical Services, a private company contracted by the federal government to continue the family assistance operations once the federal resources were demobilized. Served as the Deputy Director from March 2006 until June 2006 then as Director from June 2006 until the center closed in late August 2006.
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Sozer, Niezgoda and Associates, LLC
407 Crown View Drive, Alexandria, VA USA 22314
Phone: 1-703-370-1930 - Fax: 1-703-370-1931 - E-mail: asozer@snadna.com
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