The Academy's Scholar-Practitioners

Dr. James Giordano is Head of the Center for Strategic Deterrence and Weapons of Mass Destruction Studies of the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, Washington, DC, USA; and serves as Special Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense (CBRN).   His work explores the development and use of emerging scientific techniques and technologies as weapons of maximally targeted disruption; and the development and deployment of novel approaches to biosecurity, biodefense and strategic biodeterrence.  

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Dr. Giordano is also Professor Emeritus of Neurology and Biochemistry, and Chair Emeritus of the Neuroethics Program, and Founding Chair Emeritus of the Project on Military Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center, and served as a senior advisor to DARPA, NATO;  UK Ministry of Defense; German Bundeswehr, Interpol, The European Union Human Brain Project Program on Dual-Use, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the World Health Organization. He is globally renowned for his work on the neurological effects and pathologic mechanisms of directed energies relevant to the anomalous health incidents (AHI) of the so-called Havana Syndrome; and he served from 2016-2019 as the consulting forensic neuroscientist on the original cases from the US Embassy in Havana, working with the Department of State, US Special Operations Command, and subsequently with the Department of Defense AHI Cross-Functional Team.

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Dr. Giordano was awarded a PhD in biological psychology from the City University of New York; a DPhil in digital sciences and technology from the University of Regensburg, GER, and completed post-doctoral fellowships in neuropathology and toxicology at the Johns Hopkins University; and bioethics and health policy at the Neiswanger Institute of Loyola University, IL.

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He is a Fellow of the Hastings Center for Ethics; the European Society for Science and Arts; the Royal Society of Medicine (UK); Royal Society of Public Health (UK), and was a Fulbright Professorial Fellow.  A designated US Naval Aerospace Physiologist and Psychologist, he served with the US Navy and Marine Corps.