Deputy Vice President, Global Biological Policy and Programs
Expertise Biosecurity
Hayley Anne Severance is the deputy vice president for NTI’s Global Biological Policy and Programs team (NTI | bio). In that role, she supports and leads the team’s efforts to reduce biological risks that imperil humanity.
Severance joined NTI as senior program officer for NTI | bio in May 2018 and served most recently as senior director. Severance previously served as a senior policy advisor in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, where she developed strategic policy guidance for the Cooperative Threat Reduction’s Cooperative Biological Engagement Program (CBEP) and led the Department’s efforts to advance the U.S. commitment under the Global Health Security Agenda.
From 2012-2014, Severance served as the epidemiology subject matter expert for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency CBEP. In this role, she assessed international biological event surveillance, detection, and response systems and developed implementation strategies to meet CBEP programmatic goals in biosafety and biosecurity, cooperative biological research, and surveillance.
Prior to 2012, Severance consulted for the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Health and Human Services as a Booz Allen employee. Severance also served as an operational research and development team member of ‘Project Argus’, a disease prevention initiative at Georgetown University focused on detecting catastrophic biological events on an international scale. Severance also planned and led networking and fundraising events for public health, Congressional, and corporate leaders for the Campaign for Public Health, an organization seeking to build support for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Severance holds an MPH in Infectious Disease Epidemiology from the School of Public Health and Health Services at George Washington University and a BS in Public Health from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. Severance is an alumna of the Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative Fellowship.
AIxBio capabilities hold immense promise—but they also introduce unprecedented risks. The exploitation of AIxBio capabilities for harm is a plausible near-term risk—and the time for action is now. NTI | bio offers actionable recommendations for governments, industry leaders, and philanthropic organizations to prevent catastrophic misuse.
NTI | bio partnered with Lattice Automation to design and pilot a standard for capturing and transmitting metadata.
Response by NTI to the U.S. government issued request for information (RFI) related to the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Plan outlined by President Donald Trump’s January 2025 Executive Order.
NTI focuses on developing solutions and delivering action. Doing so requires that we clearly communicate and connect with decision makers who are not necessarily experts in the field. This is how we do that.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has exacted a terrible toll with hundreds of civilians confirmed dead. The number could climb precipitously if biological or chemical weapons were introduced to the warzone, as the U.S. and UK governments have warned. Russian propaganda networks have been laying the groundwork to justify such an attack for years and this propaganda has recently been parroted by some U.S. news media outlets, further inflaming tensions and mainstreaming lies. This is dangerous and must stop.
Improving epidemic and pandemic preparedness and strengthening biosecurity in Africa.
Facilitating international governance to reduce biosecurity risks at the convergence of AI and the life sciences.
Strengthening AI governance to prevent misuse of AI-enabled tools for engineering living systems
Incorporating biosecurity reviews into bioscience and biotechnology funding processes.
Past Project Establishing stronger norms and practices to prevent accidents, misuse, and other adverse outcomes of life science research
Past Project Safeguarding modern bioscience and biotechnology so it can advance and flourish safely and responsibly
Fostering the Next Generation of Global Biosecurity Leaders
Preventing global catastrophic biological risks (GCBRS)
Advances in biotechnology outpace national governments’ ability to provide needed oversight to prevent accidents or deliberate misuse of dangerous biological agents.
Reducing the risks of biological misuse and enhancing global security
An assessment and benchmarking of health security and related capabilities across 195 countries.
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