Frederic Bertley

As an undergraduate, Bertley studied physiology, mathematics, and the history of science. He obtained both his bachelor's degree in science (1994) and his Ph.D. in immunology (1999) from McGill University, and then completed his post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School (2003).[5] After graduating from McGill, he turned his attention to the lack of primary healthcare, preventative medicine, and basic vaccines in developing nations where he managed multinational teams in Haiti, Sudan, and Canadian Arctic. He continued this focus by joining a vaccine research group at Harvard Medical School focusing on the development of DNA vaccines for HIV/AIDS.[6][7]

After his postdoctoral fellowship, Bertley worked as a scientist at Millennium Pharmaceuticals before joining WilmerHale LLP as a technology specialist in 2004.[8] After spending two years with the firm, Bertley returned to Harvard Medical School as a science professor in 2008. That same year, he became the vice president of the Center for Innovation in Science Learning at the Franklin Institute. Through his initiatives for diversity in science and health education and his development of a STEM curriculum for grades K-12, as well as undergraduate and graduate programs, Bertley earned his position as senior vice president of Science and Education at The Franklin Institute.[9] In late 2016, Bertley left the Franklin institute to become the president and CEO of COSI.

Bertley is a research affiliate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and serves as the Goodwill Ambassador to Senegal for Science Education and Innovation. He has lectured on a variety of science and education topics at universities, colleges, conferences, cultural institutions, and government agencies throughout the world. He has delivered keynote addresses and has been an invited speaker at several distinguished institutions including the United Nations, the White House, US Department of Interior, National Academy of Sciences, Wharton School of Business, and the National Science Foundation[10] in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, and South America including Paraguay,[11] Europe, Japan, and Africa.

Bertley has volunteered with a number of organizations, foundations, and initiatives including the Harvard Medical School's Reflections in Action Program, Wilmer Hale Summer Leadership Institute, Boston Public School, Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, MIT, New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), the Eleventh Annual Program on Science, Engineering and Technology, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI), Summer Science Mentorship Program in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Quebec Black Medical Association, the Bell Science Foundation in Quebec, Canada, HealthCare Volunteer in Khartoum, Sudan, USAID, and the Feeding Program Implementation in Cite Soleil, Haiti.

Bertley serves on a number of boards and committees nationally including the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC), the American Alliance of Museums, the US State Department Partner for STEM Education (multiple US Embassies), the iPRAXIS Committee, The Garvey Institute, and The Philadelphia Youth Poetry Movement (PYPM).

In the past, he has served on the INTEL Science and Engineering Grand Award Judge Panel, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Institutional Review Board, Philadelphia Biotechnology Life Science Congress, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the Healthy NewsWorks Program

• TheHistorymakers.com Biography
• The Franklin Institute official website