Downs has served the Military and Federal Healthcare Systems for over 25 years. He has held a myriad of senior leadership positions in hospital administration, supply chain management, technology research, acquisition, program support, and healthcare policy development. He is a graduate of the George Washington University Federal Inter-Agency Institute for Health Care Executives, a Senior Fellow with the Council for Excellence in Government in Washington DC, and a former Georgetown University LEGIS Health Care Policy Fellow. His experience, connections, and drive will be invaluable in establishing ISyE as a leading institution in the area of healthcare and humanitarian logistics.

As Edenfield Executive-in-Residence Downs will contribute to ISyE's efforts to establish a research and educational program and healthcare and humanitarian logistics in several ways:

* Assist in formulating a strategic plan
* Assist in formulating a research agenda
* Help build a network of collaborating and supporting organizations
* Help attract research funding

SCL researchers have interacted with Steve numerous times over the past nine months and have found him to be an energetic, stimulating, and goal oriented person. Someone with his background and credentials will be en enormous boost to SCL's efforts in this area.