National Academies Press: OpenBook

Understanding Risk: Informing Decisions in a Democratic Society (1996)

Chapter: C BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

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Suggested Citation:"C BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES." National Research Council. 1996. Understanding Risk: Informing Decisions in a Democratic Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5138.
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Suggested Citation:"C BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES." National Research Council. 1996. Understanding Risk: Informing Decisions in a Democratic Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5138.
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Suggested Citation:"C BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES." National Research Council. 1996. Understanding Risk: Informing Decisions in a Democratic Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5138.
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Suggested Citation:"C BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES." National Research Council. 1996. Understanding Risk: Informing Decisions in a Democratic Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5138.
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Suggested Citation:"C BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES." National Research Council. 1996. Understanding Risk: Informing Decisions in a Democratic Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5138.
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Suggested Citation:"C BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES." National Research Council. 1996. Understanding Risk: Informing Decisions in a Democratic Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5138.
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Suggested Citation:"C BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES." National Research Council. 1996. Understanding Risk: Informing Decisions in a Democratic Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5138.
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APPENDIX C Biographical Sketches HARVEY V. FINEBERG (chair) is dean of the Harvard School of Public Health. He has served on the Public Health Council of Massachusetts, as chair of the Health Care Technology Study Section of the National Center for Health Services Research, as president of the Society for Medical Deci- sion Making, as a consultant to the World Health Organization, and as member or chair of a number of Institute of Medicine panels dealing with topics of health policy. His research has focused on health policy, includ- ing the process of policy development and implementation, assessment of medical technology, and dissemination of medical innovations. He is coauthor of Clinical Decision Analysis (with Milton C. Weinstein and oth- ers) and The Epidemic That Never Was (with Richard E. Neustadt), an analy- sis of the controversial federal immunization program against swine flu in 1976. In 1988 he received the Joseph W. Mountin Prize from the Cen- ters for Disease Control and the Wade Hampton Frost Prize from the Epidemiology Section of the American Public Health Association. He received A.B., M.P.P, M.D., and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University. JOHN AHEARNE is director of the Sigma Xi Center, The Scientific Re- search Society, and lecturer in public policy at Duke University. He has served in government as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Energy, Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and in advisory positions to the U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense and the U.S. General Accounting Office. He has also served as vice president of Resources for the Future and as chair and member of 207

208 UNDERSTANDING RISK: INFORMING DECISIONS IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY several National Research Council committees and panels. He is a mem- ber of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellows of the American Physical Society. He received a B.S. in engineering physics, an M.S. from Cornell University, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from Princeton University. THOMAS A. BURKE is an associate professor of Health Policy and Man- agement and codirector of the Risk Sciences and Public Policy Institute at the School of Hygiene and Public Health of the Johns Hopkins University. His research interests include environmental epidemiology, the evalua- tion of population exposures to environmental pollutants, assessment of environmental risks) and the application of epidemiology and health risk assessment to public policy. Prior to his appointment at Johns Hopkins, he was Deputy Commissioner of Health for the state of New Jersey. He has served as a member of the Council of the Society for Risk Analysis, an adviser to the Office of Technology Assessment on risk assessment of chemical carcinogens and managing nuclear materials, and a member of the National Research Council Committee on Remediation of Buried and Tank Wastes. He received a B.S. degree from Saint Peter's College, an M.P.H. from the University of Texas, and a Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania. CARON CHESS is director of the Center for Environmental Communica- tion at Rutgers University. Her research interests include methods to evaluate public participation in environmental policy decisions and ex- ploration of the internal organizational factors that influence risk commu- nication and public participation efforts. She has coauthored a variety of handbooks and related materials for government agencies, including Im- proving Dialogue with Communities: A Short Guidefor Government Risk Com- munication, which is widely used in the United States and has been trans- lated into two languages for use abroad. Before moving to academia, she coordinated programs for government and nonprofit organizations, in- cluding playing a central role in the campaign for the country's first right- to-know law. She received an M.S. degree in environmental communica- tions from the University of Michigan. BRENDA S. DAVIS is vice president, government operations, and a mem- ber of the Management Board of Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems, Inc. In that position she is responsible for government sales, state govern- ment affairs, reimbursement services, and pharmaceutical rebate man- agement for the domestic health care businesses. Previously, she was a visiting fellow at Princeton University, served in the cabinet of Governor Thomas H. Kean of New Jersey, and was a senior staff member of the

APPENDIX C 209 Committee on the Budget of the U.S. Senate. She received a Ph.D. degree in ecology from the University of California at Berkeley. PETER L. DEFUR is an affiliate associate professor in the Center for Envi- ronmental Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University and an adjunct senior scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund in Washington, D.C. Previously, he held faculty positions at Southeastern Louisiana Uni- versity and George Mason University in Virginia. His interests and re- search have covered adaptations of aquatic animals, especially in coastal waters; the application of scientific information and process to environ- mental policy and regulation; and, most recently, approaches to ecologi- cal risk assessment and chemical threats to human and environmental health, especially from chemicals that interfere with hormonal systems in wildlife and humans. He is on the editorial board of the fournaZ of Experi- mental Zoology, cochair of the steering committee of the Science and Envi- ronmental Health Network, and a board member of the Coalition to Re- store Coastal Louisiana. He received a Ph.D. degree in biology from the University of Calgary. JEFFREY HARRIS is a primary-care internist at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a member of the first Institute of Medicine commit- tee on AIDS, the Committee on National Strategy Toward AIDS. He has served on the Institute of Medicine's committee on strategies to reduce low birthweight and on the National Research Council's committee on diesel emissions. He has advised numerous public and private agencies on issues of risk management, health economics, and public policy and testified before the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Massa- chusetts legislature. He wrote the seminal chapter in the 1989 Surgeon General's Report, which estimated that smoking caused nearly 400,000 deaths annually, and he is the author of Deadly Choices: Coping with Health Risks in Everyday Life. He received an A.B. degree from Harvard Univer- sity and M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. MARK A. HARWELL is director of the Center for Marine and Environ- mental Analyses, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami. Previously, he was associate director of the Cornell University Ecosystems Research Center. He is an ecosystems ecologist, specializing in ecosystem modeling and developing methods for ecologi- cal risk assessment and ecosystem management and applying ecological principles to real-world environmental problems. Dr. Harwell has di- rected major national and international research programs on high-level nuclear waste disposal, global environmental consequences of nuclear

210 UNDERSTANDING RISK: INFORMING DECISIONS IN A DEMO CRITIC SOCIETY war, ecological and agricultural consequences of global climate change, methodologies for ecological risk assessment and environmental deci- sion-making and human/environmental issues of ecosystem management and ecological sustainability. He is a member of the Science Advisory Board of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and chair of the Hu- man-Dominated Systems Directorate of the U.S. Man and the Biosphere Program (US MAB). He received a Ph.D. degree in ecosystems ecology from Emory University. SHEILA JASANOFF is professor of science policy and law and chair of the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University. Her research explores the relationship between science, politics, and the legal system, with specific attention to risk management, environmental regulation, and comparative and national science and technology policy. She has held visiting appointments at Yale University, Harvard Univer- sity, Wolfson College (Oxford), and Boston University School of Law. She is a recipient of the distinguished achievement award of the Society for Risk Analysis and an editorial adviser to Social Studies of Science, Sci- ence, Technology, and Human Values, Science and Engineering Ethics, and Environmental Science ~ Technology. She received a Ph.D. degree from Harvard University and a [.D. degree from Harvard Law School. NAMES C. LAMB INl is vice president, scientific and technical services, at the environmental consulting firm of lellinek, Schwartz & Connally, Inc. He advises clients on scientific issues and regulatory and science policies, specializing in general toxicology, carcinogenesis, reproductive and de- velopmental toxicology, risk assessment, and regulatory policy. Previ- ously, he was Special Assistant to the Assistant Administrator for Pesti- cides and Toxic Substances at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and head of the fertility and reproduction group of EPA's National Toxi- cology Program. He is a lawyer and a board-certified toxicologist and past president of the American Board of Toxicology. He received a Ph.D. degree in pathology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a [.D. degree from the North Carolina Central University School of Law. D. WARNER NORTH is a senior vice president of Decision Focus Incor- porated, a consulting firm in Mountain View, California, specializing in management science and quantitative risk analysis, and consulting pro- fessor in the Department of Engineering-Economic Systems at Stanford University. He has carried out applications of decision analysis and risk on management of toxic substances in the environment, quarantine policy for the exploration of Mars, wildland fire protection, weather modifica

APPENDIX C 211 lion, nuclear waste disposal, and environmental impacts from energy technologies. He serves as a member and consultant to committees of the EPA Science Advisory Board, and has served as a presidentially appointed member of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, and as a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel on toxic substances under Proposition 65 for the governor of California. He is a past president of the Society for Risk Analysis. He has been a committee member for many previous National Research Council reports dealing with risk, is currently a mem- ber of the Board on Radioactive Waste Management, and serves as chair of the Transportation Research Board's review of federal estimates of the relationship of vehicle weight to fatality and injury risk. He received M.S. degrees in physics and mathematics and a Ph.D. degree in opera- tions research from Stanford University. KRISTIN SHRADER-FRECHETTE is distinguished research professor at the University of South Florida in the Program in Environmental Sciences and Policy and in the Department of Philosophy. She previously held professorships at the University of Florida and the University of California and has held postdoctoral fellowships from the National Sci- ence Foundation in ecology, economics, and hydrogeology. She special- izes in analysis of ecological methods, environmental ethics and policy, and quantitative risk assessment, including ecological risk assessment. She is a member of the National Research Council Board on Environmen- tal Studies and Toxicology and president-elect of the Risk Assessment and Policy Association. Author of many articles in biology, risk assess- ment, and philosophy journals, her three most recent books are Method in Ecology, Burying Uncertainty: Risk and the Case Against Geological Disposal of Nuclear Waste and Ethics of Scientific Research. Shrader-Frechette is also associate editor of BioScience and editor-in-chief of the Oxford University Press Series "Environmental Ethics and Science Policy." She received un- dergraduate degrees in mathematics and physics and a Ph.D. degree in philosophy of science from Notre Dame. PAUL SLONIIC is president of Decision Research and a professor of psy- chology at the University of Oregon. He studies human judgment, deci- sion making, and risk analysis. He and his colleagues worldwide have developed methods to describe risk perceptions and measure their effects on individuals, industry, and society. They created a taxonomic system that enables one to understand and predict perceived risk, attitudes to- ward regulation, and impacts resulting from accidents or failures. He publishes extensively and serves as a consultant to many companies and government agencies. He is past president of the Society for Risk Analy- sis and in 1991 received its Distinguished Contribution Award. He also

212 UNDERSTANDING RISK: INFORMING DECISIONS IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY serves on the Board of Directors for the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements. In 1993 he received the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Associa- tion, and in 1995 he received the Outstanding Contribution to Science Award from the Oregon Academy of Science. He received a B.A. degree from Stanford University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the Univer- sity of Michigan. MITCHELL l. SMALL is a professor of civil and environmental engineer- ing and of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University; he serves as associate department head for graduate education in engi- neering and public policy. His research interests include mathematical modeling of environmental quality and exposure, statistical analysis of monitoring data, and methods for uncertainty and decision analysis. He has served as a member of the Science Advisory Board of the U. S. Envi- ronmental Protection Agency. He is currently an associate editor for policy analysis for Environmental Science & Technology. He received a Ph.D. degree in environmental and water resources engineering from the University of Michigan. PAUL C. STERN is study director of the Committee on Risk Characteriza- tion at the National Research Council, where he also serves as study director for the Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change and the Committee on International Conflict Resolution. He is also a research professor of sociology at George Mason University. He previ- ously staffed several National Research Council committees, including the one that produced Improving Risk Communication. His major research interest is in the human dimensions of environmental problems. He is coauthor of a textbook, Environmental Problems and Human Behavior (with Gerald T. Gardner) and has published on behavioral aspects of residential energy conservation, attitudes and values as they affect environmentally significant behavior, the psychological dimensions of global environmen- tal change, social science research methods, international conflict, and nationalism. He holds a B.A. degree from Amherst College and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in psychology from Clark University. ELAINE VAUGHAN is associate professor of psychology in the School of Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine. Previously, she served as a research psychologist in the Division of Adolescent Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research focuses on interactions among cognitive, sociocultural, economic, and environmen- tal factors that affect the risk judgments and behaviors of individuals and implications of group differences in responses for social policies. She has

APPENDIX C 213 received an award for excellence in interdisciplinary research from the School of Social Ecology and has served as a committee member for California's Comparative Risk Project (1992-1994~. She received a Ph.D. decree in social psychology from Stanford Universitv. NAMES D. WILSON is senior fellow and leader of the risk analysis pro- gram in the Center for Risk Management at Resources for the Future. Previously, he had a long career with the Monsanto Company in research, research management, and health and environmental policy. His research has focused on structure-activity relationships, including environmental chemistry broadly, dioxin and related chemicals, the relationship of chemical structure to physical and physiological properties, the use of science in decision making, and the influence of organizational structure on decision making. He was president of the Society for Risk Analysis in 1993 and was named a fellow of the Society in that year. He received a Ph.D. decree in organic chemistry from the Universitv of Washington. tJ V J J LAUREN ZEISE is chief of reproductive and cancer hazard assessment at the California Environmental Protection Agency. She has also worked at the California Department of Health Services and the California Public Health Foundation. Her research has focused on cancer risk assessment, particularly models of exposure. She received a B.S. degree from Loyola University and S.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University.

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Understanding Risk addresses a central dilemma of risk decisionmaking in a democracy: detailed scientific and technical information is essential for making decisions, but the people who make and live with those decisions are not scientists. The key task of risk characterization is to provide needed and appropriate information to decisionmakers and the public. This important new volume illustrates that making risks understandable to the public involves much more than translating scientific knowledge. The volume also draws conclusions about what society should expect from risk characterization and offers clear guidelines and principles for informing the wide variety of risk decisions that face our increasingly technological society.

  • Frames fundamental questions about what risk characterization means.
  • Reviews traditional definitions and explores new conceptual and practical approaches.
  • Explores how risk characterization should inform decisionmakers and the public.
  • Looks at risk characterization in the context of the entire decisionmaking process.

Understanding Risk discusses how risk characterization has fallen short in many recent controversial decisions. Throughout the text, examples and case studies—such as planning for the long-term ecological health of the Everglades or deciding on the operation of a waste incinerator—bring key concepts to life. Understanding Risk will be important to anyone involved in risk issues: federal, state, and local policymakers and regulators; risk managers; scientists; industrialists; researchers; and concerned individuals.

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