International bioterrorism expert Dr Rebecca Hoile has joined the Flinders’ Torrens Resilience Institute to work on a major project in health security.

The ‘Health Security Interface Project’ aims to improve the way that biological incidents are addressed and strengthen connectivity between health and security agencies.

Dr Hoile previously headed the Bioterrorism Prevention program within the Chemical, Biological and Radiological Sub-Directorate which was part of the Counter Terrorism and Vulnerable Targets Directorate at INTERPOL based in Lyon, France.

She is recognised as an international expert in the field of CBRNe response and highly experienced in advising law enforcement, military and public health practitioners.

She has also previously been Operations Manager, Senior Forensic Scientist and Forensic Counter Terrorism Manager for New South Wales Police.

She now joins the Torrens Resilience Institute, and its World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Mass Gatherings and Global Health Security, at Flinders University.

Dr Hoile is currently working as an expert consultant for WHO as part of its World Health Emergency Programme.

Dr Hoile’s role is to bridge the gap between health agencies, law enforcement and other security agencies in order to provide a common language approach to a sometimes technical topic and assist agencies to consider the impact of ‘deliberate’ events on the way we do business, including communication pathways, investigative challenges and response plans.

As part of this project she will be working with an international group of experts to undertake a gap analysis and make recommendations for strengthening response capability within the health and security interface.