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Dr. Fuerst has a long-standing track record in the research, development, and manufacturing of biological products. Early in his career, he was a founding scientist at MedImmune and helped establish its core R&D programs engaged in the development of several products and platform technologies that led to the company’s future success. He later joined Sanofi Pasteur as an executive in corporate R&D and played a key role in establishing the company’s biodefense initiative post-9/11.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) then recruited him to serve as director of vaccines and biologics in the Office of the Secretary. In this capacity, he helped establish and lead the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) responsible for the development and acquisition of vaccines and immunotherapeutic products for biodefense and other emerging public health threats such as pandemic flu and COVID-19. He also served as program director of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) initiative for the Department of Defense (DoD) to develop the concept of a dedicated capability for the advanced development and manufacturing (ADM) of biological countermeasures to address national security interests. Following HHS, Dr. Fuerst transitioned to serve as professor and director of the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) for the University of Maryland and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. IBBR is largely focused on advanced structural biology, protein design and modeling, and in-depth bioanalytical characterization of complex biological products, including vaccines and biotherapeutics. His lab at IBBR is focused on structure-based vaccine design, next generation protein-based therapeutics, and polyphosphazene-based immunoadjuvant and delivery systems. He served as a senior fellow at the National Institutes of Health, NIAID, in Bethesda, MD, holds a B.A. in biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley, a Ph.D. in molecular genetics from Cornell University, and a MBA in science, technology, and innovation from the George Washington University. He has authored over 80 publications and recipient of 15 issued patents and applications, has received several Distinguished Service Awards for leadership from HHS, served on the Advisory Council for the College of Life Sciences, Cornell University, and participates on advisory boards in the biotechnology industry.