Dr. Viggiani is the Associate Vice President for Research Integrity at Oregon State University. At OSU, research excellence and research integrity go hand-in-hand, and the Office of Research Integrity is working to build and maintain a culture that values high ethical and professional standards, integrating research integrity into all stages of the research process. Dr. Viggiani’s office works to support OSU’s mission with a range of programs focusing on human research protections, animal welfare, export controls & international compliance, responsible research practices, research security, boating and diving safety, research conflicts of interest, biosafety, and more. Previously, Dr. Viggiani oversaw OSU’s University Policy & Standards Program, managing a broad range of policy issues related to academic affairs, student life, business and finance, governance and administration, human resources, research, and information technology.
Prior to joining OSU, Dr. Viggiani ran the biosafety and biosecurity policy program at the National Institutes of Health. Within the NIH Director’s Office of Science Policy, he worked with a range of federal partners across the U.S. government to develop and implement federal policies that promote global health security and advance emerging biotechnologies. He focused on policy issues related to laboratory safety and security, dual use research, antibacterial resistance, synthetic biology, nanotechnology, and domestic and international engagement. He served as Executive Director of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity and helped lead the U.S. government’s deliberative process on how to safely fund and conduct certain gain-of-function studies involving pandemic pathogens.
Dr. Viggiani earned a B.S. from Virginia Tech, a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Southern California and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His research focused on the molecular mechanisms controlling DNA replication and repair, chromosome stability, and telomeres. He has received awards for outstanding research, teaching, and policy work, and contributed to over a dozen scientific and policy articles, reviews, and book chapters.