Dr. Barber holds a Ph.D. in Biodefense from George Mason University and an M.A. in Security Studies from Georgetown University. Her career began at Project Argus - the nation's go-to Biodefense early warning group out of Georgetown University – where she served as its Senior Analyst for Africa and the Middle East. In this capacity, her team was among the earliest to notify U.S. Government sponsors of a potentially novel strain of Ebola in Bundibugyo, Uganda in 2007, and provided early warning for the 2006 Rift Valley Fever outbreak in the Horn. She was recruited by Veratect Corporation to help start a commercial spin-off of Georgetown’s early warning capability. Not only did she help establish this organization’s commercial biodefense advisory capability, she also developed an early warning capability for mass violence and civil unrest. Dr. Barber left Veratect in 2009 to join the Institute for Defense Analyses, a Department of Defense (DoD) Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC). Her relevant work there has included providing casualty estimation modeling, policy advice, and subject matter expertise to U.S. government agencies involved in the 2014 Ebola outbreak response, as well as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. She has also been instrumental in evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of the National Defense Strategy. Finally, she has developed a core competency in security cooperation, spending a year at the Department of State leading Security Governance Initiative portfolios for Ghana and Niger, and conducting assessments of security cooperation policy and guidance out of IDA. In her 15-year long career, Dr. Barber has provided insight to senior level decision-makers at the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of State, and the National Security Council.