Dr. Frederic Bertley is the President and Chief Executive Officer of COSI in Columbus, Ohio and began his leadership of COSI in January of 2017. In his role as President, Dr. Bertley imagines COSI as the epicenter for all things scientific for the Columbus community.
Prior to joining COSI, Dr. Bertley was Senior Vice President for Science and Education with the renowned Franklin Institute in Philadelphia where he directed a diverse portfolio of visionary initiatives supporting innovation in STEM learning, and science communication, as well as departments and programs that capture the history and legacy of The Franklin Institute including the prestigious Benjamin Franklin Awards Program. Dr. Bertley also played a critical role in community outreach, partnerships and fundraising practices of the Institute.
Dr. Bertley directed various departments supporting research-based projects as well as program development and implementation. Dr. Bertley founded and directed the Color of Science™, which highlights the incredible contributions of women and persons of color to modern day science and engineering.
Dr. Bertley has a strong record in academia, studying Physiology, Mathematics, and the History of Science as an undergraduate student. Following his B.Sc., he obtained a Ph.D. in Immunology, both degrees from McGill University, and then completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School.
After graduating from McGill, Dr. Bertley turned his attention to the lack of primary healthcare, preventative medicine, and basic vaccines in developing nations where he managed multinational teams in Haiti, The Sudan, and the Canadian Arctic. Dr. Bertley continued this focus by joining a vaccine research group at Harvard Medical School focusing on the development of DNA vaccines for HIV/AIDS.
Dr. Bertley has lectured on a variety of science and education topics at universities, colleges, cultural institutions, and government agencies throughout the world. He has keynoted and been an invited speaker at several distinguished institutions including The United Nations, The White House, the US Department of Interior, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Science Foundation here in the U.S., as well as in Canada, the Caribbean, South America, Europe, and Africa. Dr. Bertley sits on numerous boards including Health NewsWorks, iPRAXIS, and the Philadelphia Youth Poetry Movement (PYPM). He also is a member of the selection committee for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Public Engagement with Science Award. Dr. Bertley has received numerous honors some of which include: Dell Inc. Inspire 100 World Changers, Harvard Medical School Dean’s Service Award, Philadelphia Business Journal’s 40 Under 40, Philadelphia Business Journal Minority Business Leader of The Year, The President’s Award (Merck), Citation from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and two Mid-Atlantic, National Academy of Television and Science EMMYsTM.