Respiratory Diseases Research at NIOSH: Reviews of Research Programs of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (2008)

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D Biographic Information on the Committee to Review the NIOSH Respiratory Diseases Research Program Mark J. Utell (Chair) is professor of medicine and environmental medicine, direc- tor of occupational and environmental medicine and former director of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center. He serves as associate chairman of the Department of Environmental Medicine. His research interests have centered on the effects of environmental toxicants on the human respiratory tract. Dr. Utell has published extensively on the health effects of inhaled gases, particles and fibers in the workplace, indoor and outdoor environments. He is the coprincipal investigator of an EPA Particulate Matter Center and chair of the Health Effects Institute’s Research Committee. He has served as chair of EPA’s Environmental Health Committee and on the Executive Committee of the EPA Science Advisory Board. He is a former recipient of the NIEHS Academic Award in Environmental and Occupational Medicine. Dr. Utell is currently a member of the National Research Council’s (NRC) Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology. He previously served on the NRC Committee on Research Priorities for Airborne Particulate Matter, the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Committee to Review the Health Consequences of Service during the Persian Gulf War; and the IOM Committee on Biodefense Analysis and Counter-measures. He received his M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine in 1972. John R. Balmes is professor of medicine at the University of California, San F ­ rancisco, and chief of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital. He is also professor of Environmental Health 226 

A pp e n d i x D 227 Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, and director of the Northern California Center for Occupational and Environmental Health. His research is in the area of occupational and environmental respiratory disease. He studies the acute effects of inhalation exposures to ambient air pollutants in his human exposure laboratory at San Francisco General Hospital and the chronic effects of such exposures in epidemiological studies with collaborators at the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of California, Berkeley. He is also interested in ­genetic determinants of responses to air pollutants. For the past two years, Dr. Balmes has been leading research, funded by the CDC, to assist in the development of a national program to link environmental hazards with health out- come data to improve the tracking of diseases potentially related to environmental exposures. Dr. Balmes received the Environmental and Occupational Medicine Academic Award from NIEHS,1991-1996. Dr. Balmes received his M.D. from Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in 1976. Paul D. Blanc is professor of medicine, Endowed Chair and Chief of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco. Dr. Blanc also serves as associate medical director of the California Poison Control System, San Francisco Division. Dr. Blanc is board certified in occupational medicine and internal medicine and holds a certificate in medical toxicology. His research interests are in the areas of epidemiology of occupational lung disease, asthma outcomes, and occupational toxicology. He was a member of the IOM Committee on Poison Prevention and Control. He received his M.D. from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Blanc is the author of How Everyday Products Make People Sick (UC Press). Elizabeth S. Chamberlin is vice president for safety and training at Massey Energy. Before that she was the general manager for safety for CONSOL Energy Incorpo- rated. She was formerly part of the General Counsel’s office for CONSOL Energy. She is trained as a mining engineer and has experience as a miner, operating e ­ ngineer, and assistant foreman while at the United States Steel Mining Company. She chairs the National Mining Association’s Health and Safety Sub-Committee. She received her J.D. from Duquesne School of Law and an M.B.A. from Waynes- burg College. Rogene F. Henderson is a senior biochemist and toxicologist emeritus in the Experi­ mental Toxicology Program of the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute. She is also a clinical professor in the College of Pharmacy at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Her major research interests are in the use of broncho­alveolar lavage fluid analyses to detect and characterize biomarkers of developing lung 

228 R e s p i r ato ry D i s e a s e s R e s e a r c h at NIOSH disease, the toxicokinetics of inhaled vapors and gases, and the use of biological markers of exposure and of effects to link environmental exposure to disease. She has served on a number of scientific advisory boards, including those of DOE, EPA, NIEHS, and the U.S. Army. She was recently appointed chair of EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. Dr. Henderson is a National Associate of the National Academies, and is a former member of the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology. She has served on numerous NRC committees, and is cur- rently serving on the Committee on Human Health Risks from Trichloroethylene and the Committee on Asbestos: Selected Health Effects. She received her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Texas in 1960. David M. Mannino is associate professor of medicine and a clinician and scientist in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. Dr. Mannino specializes in chronic bronchitis and ­ emphysema, asthma, and health-effects related to tobacco smoke. His current research projects include health effects related to tobacco smoke, metals and the lungs, and outcomes and comorbidities of chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Dr. Mannino received the Soffer Research Award in 2003 from the American ­College of Chest Physicians and was elected Advocate of the Year by the American Lung Association in 2003 for work on a smoking ordinance in DeKalb County, Georgia. Dr. Mannino earned an M.D. from the Jefferson Medical College in 1981. James A. Merchant is professor of occupational and environmental health and dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa. Dr. Merchant’s ­expertise is in medicine, public-health, industrial health, federal government agency admin- istration, rural health policy, preventive medicine, occupational medicine, envi- ronmental health, and epidemiology. His research interests include occupational and environmental lung disease, rural health outcomes, rural health care deliv- ery, public health policy, environmental health sciences, and international health. Dr. Merchant is a member of IOM and he serves on the Roundtable on Environ- mental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine. He was honored with the James P. Keogh Award by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2003. Dr. Merchant received his M.D. from the University of Iowa and a Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina. Jacqueline Nowell is the director of the Occupational Safety and Health Office at the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. Ms. Nowell and her staff develop and monitor ergonomic programs in the red meat, poultry, and retail industries. They develop educational materials and conduct training 

A pp e n d i x D 229 programs for local union stewards and leadership on a variety of safety and health issues in the union’s represented industries. She is a member of the American Public Health Association and American Industrial Hygiene Association as well as serving on National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health/National Occupational Research Agenda Traumatic Injuries and Special Populations at Risk Teams. She is currently a board member on the District of Columbia Occupational Safety and Health Board that establishes policies related to occupational safety and health i ­ ssues in the District of Columbia. Ms. Nowell received her Master’s in Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles and is a certified industrial hygienist. She has worked for the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health and was an assistant professor at Hunter College’s School of Health Sciences/Environmental and Occupational Health Science Program. Charles Poole is associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health. Previously, he was with the Boston University School of Public Health. Dr. Poole’s work focuses on the develop- ment and utilization of epidemiologic methods and principles, including problem definition, study design, data collection, statistical analysis, and interpretation and application of research results, including systematic review and meta-analysis. His research experience includes studies in environmental and occupational epidemi- ology and other substantive areas. Dr. Poole was an epidemiologist in the Office of Pesticides and Toxic Substances of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for 5 years and worked for a decade as an epidemiologic consultant, both with a firm and independently. Dr. Poole was a member of the IOM Committee on Gulf War and Health: Review of the Literature on Pesticides and Solvents and the NRC Committees on Estimating the Health-Risk-Reduction Benefits of Proposed Air Pollution Regulations and Fluoride in Drinking Water. He received his Sc.D. in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1989. Richard B. Schlesinger is associate dean for academic affairs and research of ­Dyson College of Arts and Sciences and professor and chair of the Department of ­Biology- Health Sciences at Pace University, New York. He was previously director of the toxicology program at the New York University School of Medicine. In 2006, he received the Herbert E. Stokinger award from the American Conference of Indus- trial Hygienists for his contributions to the field of environmental toxicology. He has served on several NRC committees includi ng the Pulmonary Toxicology and Research Priorities for Airborne Particulate Matter and is currently a member of the Subcommittee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels. He is an associate editor of the journal Inhalation Toxicology. He received his Ph.D. in biology and environ- mental health from New York University. 

230 R e s p i r ato ry D i s e a s e s R e s e a r c h at NIOSH Noah S. Seixas is the Rohm and Hass Professor of Environmental and Occupa- tional Health Sciences in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of Washington, and the director of the Northwest Center for Occu­pational Health and Safety. His research interests and expertise are in expo- sure assessments in the context of retrospective, cross-sectional, and prospective epidemiology studies, and have included studies on silica exposure, irritant ex- posures in aluminum smelting, and organic dust exposures. Over the past eight years, Dr. Seixas has focused largely on noise exposure in the construction industry. In addition to studies in construction, Dr. Seixas is currently working on risks in “precarious employment,” including risks faced by day laborers. Dr. Seixas is an assistant editor of the Annals of Occupational Hygiene and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene and the Ameri- can Journal of Industrial Medicine. He received his M.S. from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1984 and his Ph.D. in industrial health from the University of Michigan in 1990. Ira B. Tager is professor of epidemiology in the Division of Public Health, Biology, and Epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley, and is codirector and principal investigator for the Center for Family and Community Health. Dr. Tager’s research interests include, among others, the development of exposure assessment instruments for studies of health effects of chronic ambient ozone exposure in childhood and adolescence, effects of ozone exposure on pulmonary function, and the effects of oxidant and particulate air pollution on cardiorespiratory morbidity and mortality as well as air-pollution-related morbidity from asthma in children. Dr. Tager was a member of the NRC committee on Air Quality in Passenger Cabins of Commercial Aircraft and currently serves on the committee on the Effects of Changes in New Source Review Programs for Stationary Air Pollutants. He also serves as a member of the Research Committee for the Health ­Effects Institute. Dr. Tager received an M.D. from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and a M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health. David H. Wegman is dean of the School of Health and Environment at the Uni- versity of Massachusetts, Lowell. He also serves as adjunct professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Wegman’s research involves epidemiologic studies of occupational respiratory disease, musculoskeletal disorders, and cancer. Recent work has focused on the examination of health and safety risks among construc- tion workers involved in the building of the Third Harbor Tunnel and the under- ground Central Artery in Boston, and the study of the relationship of work risks and age both among child laborers and older adults. He has also written on public health and policy issues concerning hazard and health surveillance, methods of 

A pp e n d i x D 231 exposure assessment for epidemiologic studies, the development of alternatives to regulation and the use of participatory methods to study occupational health risks. Dr. Wegman­ served as chair of the NRC-IOM Committee on Health and Safety Needs of Older Workers and the Committee on the Health and Safety Con- sequences of Child Labor. He has also been a member of the NRC-IOM Panel on Musculoskeletal Disorders and Work, the IOM Committees to Review the Health Consequences of Service During the Persian Gulf War and to Review Gender Differences in Susceptibility to Environmental Factors, and he currently chairs the Committee on the Review of NIOSH Research Programs, which serves as the Framework Committee for this and other specific NIOSH reviews. He received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School.