Dr. Brandi C. Vann currently serves as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs. This position serves as the principal advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense on nuclear energy, nuclear weapons, chemical demilitarization, chemical and biological defense and treaty management. Immediately prior, Dr. Vann served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Chemical and Biological Defense (DASD/CBD).

Dr. Vann has held multiple senior leadership positions in Federal government including Chief of Advanced and Emerging Threats at Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) where she received the Office of the Director of National Intelligence Meritorious Achievement Award for her management of an innovative program to detect contaminated battlefields.

Prior to her joining the Department of Defense, Dr. Vann served as the Director of Laboratories for Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NPC) and a visiting scientist at the Counterterrorism and Forensic Science Research Unit at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Dr. Vann received her PhD in Chemistry from the University of South Carolina where she studied analytical chemistry and applied statistics. She also held a Senior Executive Fellowship from the Kennedy School at Harvard University.