MRIGlobal Vice President Joins Missouri Biotechnology Board of Directors

Robert Casillas, Ph.D., to serve three-year term on MOBIO board

(Kansas City, MO) April 26, 2012 – MRIGlobal announces that Robert Casillas, Ph.D., has accepted an appointment to serve on the Missouri Biotechnology Board of Directors.

Casillas, MRIGlobal Vice President of Strategic Global Health and Security, will serve a three-year term, which began April 3. MOBIO is a non-profit association dedicated to the development and growth of the Missouri biotechnology industry.

At MRIGlobal, Casillas is responsible for developing strategic plans, opportunities, and programs for growing and further strengthening MRIGlobal’s markets in Global Health and Security, working with government, industry, and academia.

Casillas is a biochemical toxicologist and an internationally recognized expert in chemical and biological defense. Before joining MRIGlobal, he was Vice President, Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosive (CBRNE) Business Integration for medical and non-medical defense markets for the National Security Global Business at Battelle Memorial Institute. 

Casillas’ career includes 20 years’ active duty service in the U.S. Army; he continues to serve as a Research Biochemist in the U.S. Army Reserve as a Lieutenant Colonel, Medical Service Corps. While on active duty, he served as Chief, Chemical and Biological Collection Systems, Chief, Chemical Defense Section, 520th Theater Army Medical Laboratory, and as a Senior Researcher at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense. As a reservist, he was twice deployed to support Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In addition, Casillas is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers University, and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. 

Recently, Casillas was named as one of the “Top 200 Most Influential Hispanics in Technology” for 2011 by Hispanic Engineer & Information Technology magazine.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in microbiology and doctoral degree in biochemistry from Georgia State University, and also completed a post-doctoral fellowship in molecular toxicology at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry.

About MRIGlobal
MRIGlobal, a not-for-profit research and development organization, delivers global solutions in national security and defense, energy and environment, life and animal sciences, agriculture and food safety, and transportation. The organization performs scientific research, advanced engineering and program integration and management for clients in government, industry and academia. Established in 1944 as Midwest Research Institute, MRIGlobal is based in Kansas City, Mo., operates in nine states and Washington, D.C., and manages more than 3,300 employees.

The organization is one of two partners in the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, which manages and operates the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colo., for the U.S. Department of Energy. MRIGlobal established and manages SolarTAC and supports the National Energy Technology Laboratory for the DOE to develop technologies for clean coal, carbon management, energy efficiency and techno/economic analysis of energy systems.

For more information, visit www.mriglobal.org.