Dr. David Franz - DVM 1970

Annual Conference for Veterinarians 2003

Dr. Franz served as Chief Inspector on three United Nations Special Commission biological warfare inspection missions to Iraq and as a technical advisor on long-term monitoring. He served as a member of the first two US/UK teams that visited Russia in support of the Trilateral Joint Statement on Biological Weapons and as a member of the Trilateral Experts' Committee for biological weapons negotiations.

Dr. Franz was Technical Editor for the Textbook of Military Medicine on Chemical and Biological Defense released in 1997. His current national-level committee appointments include the Defense Intelligence Agency Red Team Bio-Chem 2020, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency Threat Reduction Advisory Committee Science & Technology Panel, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Committee on Advanced Sensors, the NAS Committee on Research Standards and Practices, and the NAS Committee for Research with Russian Biological Institutes, which he chairs. He also serves on the Dean's Advisory Council of the College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University. Dr. Franz is the Deputy Director of the Center for Disaster Preparedness, University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Medicine, where he holds an adjunct appointment as Professor, and he serves on the faculty of the Department of Justice, Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Alabama.

After spending a year as an associate with the Hutchinson Small Animal Hospital in Hutchinson, Kansas, Dr. Franz was commissioned as Captain in the U.S. Army in 1971. His first veterinarian duty assignments were at MEDDAC, Ft. Hood, Texas, where he was General Veterinary Officer and the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Ft. Devens, Massachusetts, where he served as Group Veterinarian. He spent the 24 of his 27 years on active duty with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, assigned to four of the Command's laboratories. During this time in the Research and Development Command, he received a PhD in Physiology from Baylor College of Medicine in 1980.

Numerous military honors and awards were given during his career including the Distinguished Graduate Award of the AMEDD officer orientation course, National Defense Service Ribbon, Meritorious Service Medal, Parachutist Badge, Special Forces Qualification Tab, Expert Field Medical Badge, Army Commendation Medal, with Oak Leaf Cluster, Army Achievement Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Research and Development Achievement Award, Overseas Service Ribbon, Order of Military Medical Merit, Proficiency Designator-Physiology, National Defense Service and Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster. He was also a resident graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College. He retired from the U. S. Army in 1998 with the rank of Colonel.

As a speaker, Dr. Franz has been invited to speak at nationally and internationally recognized organizations. He has been an invited guest expert on National Public Radio, MSNBC's Hardball and the News with Brian Williams, ABC's Primetime, CBS's Early Show with Sam Donaldson, The Morning Show and 60 minutes and the recent PBS series, Avoiding Armageddon. Professional memberships for Dr. Franz include: American Veterinary Medical Association, American Physiological Society and the Kansas Veterinary Medical Association.

Honors while at K-State and honor society memberships include: Kansas State University Outstanding Small Animal Clinician, 1970, Upjohn Outstanding Small Animal Clinician Award, 1970, Gamma Sigma Delta and Phi Zeta honor societies.

Dr. Franz and his wife, Patricia who graduated from K-State in 1970 with a degree in Family and Child Development, reside in Frederick, Maryland. They have two adult children, Matthew and Eric.