Phillip Williamson, PhD
Dr. Williamson currently serves as the Chief Scientific Officer for Creative Testing Solutions. Between April 2015 and May 2018, he served as the VP, of Operations and Scientific Affairs. He joined CTS in May of 2012 as the VP of Scientific Affairs. Throughout he has overseen the operations of all CTS specialty laboratories. He is also an Affiliate Investigator at Vitalant Research Institute.
Dr. Williamson holds MS and PhD degrees in Molecular Biology. He is a specialist in the molecular biology of prokaryotes and his expertise includes microbial genomics, bacterial physiology, and molecular diagnostics, with specific expertise in the development of rapid nucleic acid and immunologic diagnostic systems, as well as methods and tools for the rapid assessment of disease outbreaks. He is an author on 40+ peer reviewed publications and serves a member of the AABB Transfusion Transmitted Disease Committee and the International Society of Blood Transfusion Transmitted Disease Working Party, as well as a reviewer for a variety of journals.
He previously served as faculty at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in the College of Osteopathic Medicine and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences where he was the Director of the Center for Biosafety and Biosecurity. He has held faculty appointments in Forensic and Investigative Genetics, Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology. His previous academic appointments and research endeavors were directed at the development of methods and tools for the rapid assessment of disease outbreaks (whether naturally occurring or intentionally released) and the study of efficient mechanisms to research epidemiology, genetics and associated clinical manifestations of emerging infectious disease. Specifically, he focused on vector-borne emerging infectious disease, microbial forensics, and application of detection technologies for biodefense. He has experience with pathogens such as such as Anaplasma, Bacillus, Borrelia, Babesia, Bartonella, Coxiella, Ehrlichia, Rickettsia and Francisella, and Yersina.
His current research focus is the epidemiology, genetics and associated clinical manifestations of emerging infectious disease which may be transmitted through transfusion. In conjunction with the testing information available through CTS, this provides a significant opportunity to improve blood product safety and to rapidly respond to emerging infectious disease threats in the US.