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Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty (2013)

Chapter: Appendix B: Committee Member Biographical Sketches

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2013. Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12568.
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Appendix B

Committee Member Biographical Sketches

Frank A. Sloan, Ph.D. (Chair), is the J. Alexander McMahon Professor of Health Policy and Management and professor of economics at Duke University. Prior to joining the faculty at Duke in 1993, Dr. Sloan was a professor of economics at Vanderbilt University for nearly 10 years. Dr. Sloan’s research interests are broad and include health care regulation and competition, health manpower, the cost effectiveness of medical technologies, aging and long-term care, and the social and economic costs of smoking and alcohol abuse. He has published more than 20 books and 300 journal articles and book chapters and has served on several national advisory councils and committees. He is currently on the editorial boards of the journals Applied Health Economics and Health Policy and Journal of American Health Policy. Dr. Sloan was elected a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1982. He has been a member of several IOM committees and served as chair of both the IOM Committee to Evaluate Cancer in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (December 2004 to December 2006) and the IOM Committee to Evaluate Vaccine Purchase and Finance in the United States (January 2002 to August 2003). Dr. Sloan received his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

James S. Hoyte, J.D., is a lecturer on environmental science and public policy at the Kennedy School of Government and assistant to the president and associate vice president of Harvard University. Mr. Hoyte is a specialist in environmental justice. He is currently co-program director of the Harvard Working Group on Environmental Justice, which brings together Harvard faculty from many disciplines to examine issues of environmental justice

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2013. Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12568.
×

within the United States and around the world. Mr. Hoyte served as Massachusetts secretary of environmental affairs from 1983 to 1988. In that role he was responsible for oversight of the planning and management of environmental and natural resource conservation policies and programs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As secretary, he was also founding chairman of the Board of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and oversaw management of the Boston Harbor Clean-up Project. Mr. Hoyte serves on the boards of directors of several environmental organizations, including the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Trust for Public Land, and the Massachusetts Environmental Trust. Mr. Hoyte received his J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Roger E. Kasperson, Ph.D., is a research professor and distinguished scientist in the Graduate School of Geography at Clark University. Before joining the faculty at Clark, Dr. Kasperson taught at the University of Connecticut and Michigan State University. He has published widely in the areas of risk analysis, risk communication, global environmental change, risk and ethics, and environmental policy. Dr. Kasperson was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2003 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004. He has been a consultant or advisor to numerous public and private agencies on energy and environmental issues and has served on various committees of the National Research Council and the Council of the Society for Risk Analysis. From 1992 to 1996 he chaired the International Geographical Union Commission on Critical Situations/Regions in Environmental Change. He was vice president for academic affairs at Clark University from 1993 to 1996, and in 1999 he was elected director of the Stockholm Environment Institute, a post he held through 2004. He now serves on the Human Dimensions of Global Change Committee and the Committee on Strategic Advice for the Climate Change Program of the National Research Council. Dr. Kasperson has a Ph.D. in geography from the University of Chicago.

Emmett B. Keeler, Ph.D., is a professor in the Pardee RAND Graduate School and an adjunct professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, Public Health School, where he has taught cost effectiveness and decision analysis for many years. He led the multisite Improving Chronic Illness Care Evaluation. He analyzed health outcomes and episodes of spending for the RAND Health Insurance Experiment. He has worked on the theory and practice of decision analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis of clinical procedures and cancer screening. An elected member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), he has participated in IOM committees on the science of lie detection, the economic costs of lack of insurance, the use of health measures in regulatory analysis, national health accounts, and geographic

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2013. Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12568.
×

variation in health care spending. Dr. Keeler has a Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard University.

Sarah B. Kotchian, Ph.D., Ed.M., M.P.H., was the associate director for planning for the Institute for Public Health at the University of New Mexico (UNM) until her retirement in 2007. In conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Kotchian worked to strengthen national, state, and local environmental health services and to promote environmental health leadership. Before joining the faculty at UNM, she was the director of the Albuquerque Environmental Health Department for more than 14 years. Under Dr. Kotchian’s direction, the Albuquerque Environmental Health Department administered comprehensive city- and county-wide programs in the areas of air quality, environmental health planning, food protection, noise control, hazardous waste, pollution prevention, groundwater quality and protection, landfill characterization and remediation, integrated vector management, vehicle emissions, epidemiology, geographic information systems, public information, and animal services. She is a recognized leader, author, and speaker on the formation of local, state, and national environmental and public health policy, leadership, and practice. She is the recipient of several awards, including the National Environmental Health Association’s Walter Mangold Award. She served on the executive board of the American Public Health Association (APHA) and chaired its Subcommittee on Environment and Health. She was chair of the National Conference of Local Environmental Health Administrators. Other past activities include service on the National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council; service on the Council on Education for Public Health, the national accrediting body for graduate public health education; and chair of the APHA Section on Environment. Dr. Kotchian has also served on a number of state and national committees on the environment and public health. She received a Ph.D. from UNM, an Ed.M. from Harvard University, and an M.P.H. from the University of Washington.

Joseph V. Rodricks, Ph.D., is a principal of ENVIRON International, a technical consulting firm, and a visiting professor at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. ENVIRON was founded in 1982 by Dr. Rodricks and four associates and now has more than 900 employees in 13 countries. Dr. Rodricks came to consulting after a 15-year career as a scientist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He entered the agency’s Bureau of Science after receiving degrees in chemistry (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and biochemistry (University of Maryland). He spent 7 years as a laboratory scientist investigating the chemistry, metabolism, and toxicology of aflatoxins and other natural

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2013. Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12568.
×

toxins; during this same period he undertook a year of postdoctoral work at Berkeley, where he pursued studies of paralytic shellfish poison. The remainder of his FDA career was devoted to the development and application of quantitative risk assessment methods, and his professional life has continued to center on these subjects. He was the FDA’s deputy associate commissioner for health affairs from 1977 until he resigned in 1980. During his last 4 years at the agency he was heavily involved in the formation of the National Toxicology Program and in a host of other interagency efforts, including the development of the first federal guidelines for the conduct of risk assessment. He has provided consulting services for manufacturers, government agencies, and the World Health Organization. His experience extends from pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and foods to occupational chemicals and environmental contaminants. He currently serves on the National Research Council (NRC) Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology and has served on 24 committees of the NRC and the Institute of Medicine, including the committee that produced the seminal work Risk Assessment in the Federal Government (1983). Dr. Rodricks has received distinguished service awards from the Society for Risk Analysis and from the Food and Drug Law Institute. In 2003 he was awarded a lifetime appointment as a national associate of the National Academy of Sciences. His best-selling book, Calculated Risks, published by Cambridge University Press and recently released in a fully revised second edition, was given an award by the American Medical Writer’s Association.

Susan L. Santos, Ph.D., M.S., is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Education and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of the New Jersey School of Public Health and holds a concurrent appointment to the VA War Related Illness and Injury Study Center in East Orange, New Jersey, where she serves as the associate director of education and risk communication. Dr. Santos is also the founder and principal of FOCUS GROUP, a consultancy specializing in risk communication, community relations, and health and environmental management. She combines her research and hands-on experience to aid federal, state, and local government agencies and private-sector clients with the design, implementation, and evaluation of health, safety, and environmental risk communication and community involvement programs. Prior to forming FOCUS GROUP, Dr. Santos served as director of corporate risk assessment services for ABB Environmental. She also worked for 8 years for EPA Region 1 in the areas of hazardous waste management and served as the agency lead for risk assessments. Dr. Santos is currently involved in implementing community engagement strategies for the cleanup of hazardous waste sites and conducting public health risk and crisis communication training. Her research interests include exploring how to communicate the

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2013. Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12568.
×

results of health studies to community members, including to low-literacy audiences, and methods for evaluating stakeholder-involvement programs. She is a member of the Society for Risk Analysis and the Society for Public Health Education and has served on previous National Academy of Sciences committees. Dr. Santos has a Ph.D. in law, policy, and society from Northeastern University and an M.S. in civil engineering and public health from Tufts University.

Stephen H. Schneider, Ph.D., M.S.,1 the Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, was a professor of biological sciences and professor by courtesy in the Department of Civil Engineering at Stanford University beginning in September 1992. He was a senior fellow in the Woods Institute for the Environment. In 1975 he founded the interdisciplinary journal Climatic Change and served as its editor. Dr. Schneider was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2002. He served on numerous National Research Council committees, including the Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change and the Institute of Medicine Committee on Decision Making Under Uncertainty. He was a coordinating lead author in Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) beginning in 1997 and was a lead author in Working Group I from 1994 to 1996. He was also a lead author of the IPCC guidance paper on uncertainties. He was a member of the California Climate Change Advisory Committee to advise the governor and state agencies on climate change policy. Dr. Schneider received both the National Conservation Achievement Award from the National Wildlife Federation and the Edward T. Law Roe Award of the Society of Conservation Biology in 2003. Dr. Schneider’s global change research interests included climatic change, climatic modeling, global warming, the ecological and economic implications of climatic change, integrated assessment of global change policy, uncertainties, dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system, and abrupt climate change. Dr. Schneider received his Ph.D. in 1971 in mechanical engineering and plasma physics from Columbia University.

Stephanie Tai, J.D., Ph.D., is an assistant professor of law at the University of Wisconsin School of Law, where she teaches courses in administrative law, environmental law, property, environmental justice, risk regulation, and comparative Asian environmental law. Prior to joining the faculty at University of Wisconsin, she taught at Georgetown Law Center. She also has worked as the editor-in-chief of the International Review for Environmental Strategies, a publication of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies in Japan. She served as a judicial law clerk to the Hon. Ronald

___________________

1 Deceased, July 2010.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2013. Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12568.
×

Lee Gilman on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and then worked as an appellate attorney in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, during which time she briefed and argued cases involving a range of issues, from the protection of endangered cave species in Texas to the issuance of dredge-and-fill permits under the Clean Water Act. Dr. Tai’s research interests include the interactions between environmental and health sciences and administrative law. She has written on the consideration of scientific studies and environmental justice concerns by administrative agencies and is currently studying the role of scientific dialogues before the judicial system. Dr. Tai received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and her Ph.D. from Tufts University.

Detlof von Winterfeldt, Ph.D., is a professor of industrial and systems engineering at the Viterbi School of Engineering of the University of Southern California (USC) with a joint appointment as professor of public policy at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. From 2009 to early 2012 he served as director of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria. Concurrently with his IIASA appointment he was a Centennial Professor of Management Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science. In 2004 he co-founded the National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events, the first university-based center of excellence funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, serving as its director until 2008. His research interests concern the foundation and practice of decision and risk analysis as applied to the areas of technology development, environmental risks, natural hazards, and terrorism. He has served on many committees and panels of the National Science Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), including the NAS Board on Mathematical Sciences and their Applications. He is an elected fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) and of the Society for Risk Analysis. He has received the Ramsey Medal for distinguished contributions to decision analysis from the Decision Analysis Society of INFORMS and the Gold Medal for advancing the field from the International Society for Multicriteria Decision Making. He received his Ph.D. in mathematical psychology from the University of Michigan.

Robert B, Wallace, M.D., M.Sc., is the Irene Ensminger Stecher Professor of Epidemiology and Internal Medicine at the University of Iowa Colleges of Public Health and Medicine. He was formerly head of the department of preventive medicine at the University of Iowa College of Medicine and director of the University of Iowa Cancer Center. Dr. Wallace’s research interests include cancer epidemiology and prevention; the causes and prevention of chronic, disabling diseases among older persons; women’s health

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2013. Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12568.
×

issues; and risk factors for cardiovascular disease. He is a principal investigator of several research projects on the health of older persons. He received his M.D. from the Northwestern University School of Medicine. He was elected a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2001 and is currently chair of IOM’s Board on Military and Veterans Health.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2013. Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12568.
×

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2013. Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12568.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2013. Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12568.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2013. Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12568.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2013. Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12568.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2013. Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12568.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2013. Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12568.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2013. Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12568.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member Biographical Sketches." Institute of Medicine. 2013. Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12568.
×
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is one of several federal agencies responsible for protecting Americans against significant risks to human health and the environment. As part of that mission, EPA estimates the nature, magnitude, and likelihood of risks to human health and the environment; identifies the potential regulatory actions that will mitigate those risks and protect public health1 and the environment; and uses that information to decide on appropriate regulatory action. Uncertainties, both qualitative and quantitative, in the data and analyses on which these decisions are based enter into the process at each step. As a result, the informed identification and use of the uncertainties inherent in the process is an essential feature of environmental decision making.

EPA requested that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) convene a committee to provide guidance to its decision makers and their partners in states and localities on approaches to managing risk in different contexts when uncertainty is present. It also sought guidance on how information on uncertainty should be presented to help risk managers make sound decisions and to increase transparency in its communications with the public about those decisions. Given that its charge is not limited to human health risk assessment and includes broad questions about managing risks and decision making, in this report the committee examines the analysis of uncertainty in those other areas in addition to human health risks. Environmental Decisions in the Face of Uncertainty explains the statement of task and summarizes the findings of the committee.

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