Gov. Rick Perry nominated 16 members of the Texas Task Force on Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response. It includes Drs. James LeDuc and Tom Ksiazek of UTMB. After touring UTMB’s Galveston National Laboratory, where some of the world’s most infectious diseases are studied, Dr. Brett Giroir of the Texas A&M Health Science Center talked about what the task force aims to accomplish. “No. 1, we are all providing immediate support, assessment, guidance, recommendations and are in close contact with the team on the ground in Dallas managing the first Ebola case,” he said, “and all the monitoring of potential contacts and those exposed.” He said the task force will be working on recommendations for how to prepare for infectious diseases — and not just Ebola.