John Gallagher, CPHST Director of Quality Management

After completing four years of service in the United States Air Force, Mr. John Gallagher attended Indiana State University where he received his B.A. in Chemistry & Mathematics. After graduation he joined a pharmaceutical company, initially working in their research and development sector. There, he successfully developed and obtained FDA approval for three new products. Later, mr. Gallagher joined the production department as the Plant Chemist, where he was responsible for quality control laboratories, process improvement laboratories, and compliance with environmental, safety, and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations. While in production, Mr. Gallagher received two process improvement patents and also served as an Association of Official Analytical Chemist (AOAC) referee, chaired several state committees involved in environmental compliance issues, and developed analytical methods. During his last five years in industry, Mr. Gallagher worked at the corporate level and was responsible for quality control, quality assurance, as well as environmental, safety, and FDA compliance for 23 plants located in 20 different countries. Mr. Gallagher joined the USDA in 1994 following early retirement. He was initially in charge of the Quality Assurance for the Analytical & Natural Products Chemistry Laboratory, but later took on the analytical methods development responsibility, accepting a position as Laboratory Director in December 1999. Outside of work, Mr. Gallagher enjoys maintaining his 10 acres on a lake in Saucier, MS.

In the fall of 2004, Mr. Gallagher accepted the position of CPHST Director of Quality Management. In this position, Mr. Gallagher is to implement a Quality Management System for CPHST that meets or exceeds the requirements of the International Organization of Standards (ISO) and obtain and maintain registration to the ISO standards.

Katherine Burch, Senior Quality Auditor

Mrs. Katherine J. Burch joined the Federal Service after receiving a B.S. in chemistry, with a minor in mathematics. Mrs. Burch began her federal career with the Agricultural Marketing Service as an Agricultural Commodities Grader stationed throughout the state of Florida. In 1990, Mrs. Burch accepted a chemist position with the newly organized AMS Science Division. In this capacity, mrs. Burch was responsible for certifying food products for authenticity, wholesomeness, and quality, based on interpretation of chemical additive analyses. Mrs. Burch joined APHIS and the National Monitoring and Residue Analysis Laboratory (NMRAL) in 1992. She has been a member of the Quality Assurance Group for her 12 year tenure at NMRAL including accepting a position as Quality Manager in 2000.

In October 2004, Mrs. Burch accepted the position of Senior Quality Auditor in the CPHST Quality Management Unit. Mrs. Burch successfully completed a RAB accredited ISO 9001:2000 lead auditor course and is enrolled in the MSQA program where she is seeking a masters degree in quality assurance through Southern Polytechnic State University.