CAPT David J. Bacon, PhD
Medical Service Corp
Director, Joint Programs, M21, US Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
US Navy Liaison Officer to Military infectious Disease Research Program and Joint Program Committee-2
CAPT David Bacon has been conducting, directing and developing evidenced based infectious disease research for more than 20 years. After graduate school, he started a post-doctoral fellowship in the Enteric Disease Department at the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC), Silver Spring, MD and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in 1999.
Early in his career, he was assigned to the Malaria Research group at NMRC and was directed post September 11, 2001 to train as an officer-in-charge of a 3-person bio-warfare detection team in support of the Biological Defense Research Directorate at NMRC. In this role as OIC, CAPT Bacon deployed with a 3-person team to Baghdad, Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. While in Iraq and in addition to team OIC, CAPT Bacon participated on an Iraq Survey Group commissioned team to investigate various Iraqi state run agencies such as biotechnology research institutions and universities for involvement in biological warfare activity.
Following his tour at NMRC, CAPT Bacon was assigned as Director of the parasitology research program at NAMRU-6 in Lima, Peru from 2004-2008, where he led the development of several basic and applied research programs at multiple study sites in several South America countries to include Peru and Columbia. His primary area of research focused on surveillance of malaria drug resistance and treatment for Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax, rapid identification and speciation of the causative agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis and surveillance for other public health relevant protozoa diseases.
His work, in collaboration with a local Ministry of Health, led to the first publication detailing appropriate treatment of P. vivax in South America. Following his tour in Peru, CAPT Bacon was stationed at the Navy Environmental Preventive Medicine Unit -2 (NEPMU-2) in Norfolk, VA where he served as the microbiology laboratory director. During this tour, he deployed as OIC and microbiology component lead of a 16-person forward deployed preventative medicine team stationed in Kuwait and Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Additionally, while at NEMPU-2, he deployed as the sole Microbiologist on the USNS Comfort during Continuing Promise 2009.
Prior to arriving at MIDRP, CAPT Bacon was a research program developer at the Naval Research Laboratory, which is the corporate laboratory for the US Navy and Marine Corp. CAPT Bacon has published 35 peer reviewed manuscripts and been invited to give seminars worldwide and has served as a subject matter expert for the World Health Organization on malaria drug resistance. CAPT Bacon received his PhD in Microbiology from the University of New Hampshire in 1997 and is certified as a level III Science and technology manager.