Name: John P. Holland
Position: Principal, Holland Associates, Inc.; President, American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (2003-2004)
Year graduated from UW DEH: 1986
Degree: MPH
DEH Program: Occupational & Environmental Medicine

John Holland takes a broad view of prevention, grounded in economics as well as occupational medicine.

“As the one medical specialty that focuses on workers, workplaces, and the environment,” he said, “we in occupational and environmental medicine are in a unique position to contribute to the health and productivity of workers, the organizational success of employers, and the environmental challenges of a complex world.”

As president of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Holland initiated a series of corporate occupational medicine courses that focused on prevention and disease management programs, health status and health-care quality measures and cost containment.

In his inaugural address to the association, he outlined the challenges to his field. “On a scientific level we are faced with the rapid and continuous expansion of scientific knowledge and technology. The physical environment where we work and live is constantly changing, presenting challenges such as emerging infectious diseases and unrecognized hazards from new technological processes. The economic and poli-tical environment also presents constant challenges, including the increasing need to present economic justifications and demonstrate short-term returns on investment for all of our professional activities.
“Although we face many challenges, occupational and environmental medicine has many strengths. We have a broad range of knowledge about occupational and environmental exposures and conditions, disease processes, clinical care, and health-care management.”

Holland’s career has emphasized the connection between occupational and environmental health issues. He is the medical consultant for a community medical monitoring program in Ruston and North Tacoma, near the former ASARCO copper smelter. Residents are tested twice a year for lead and arsenic levels. The program, which has been in existence since 1996, gives him a chance to discuss health concerns related to historical environmental contamination of soil in the area.

He also is an occupational medicine consultant to private employers and the Washington state Department of Labor and Industries, the state Department of Corrections, and the US Public Health Service. He is an assistant clinical professor in our department and the Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine.

He believes his MPH from the University of Washington gave him a strong foundation in occupational health, population medicine, and health services. The department’s emphasis on community involvement and lifelong learning for professionals is “something I have tried to incorporate in my own career over the years.” The spirit of collegiality among students and faculty “has perhaps helped shape and enrich my career as much as any other factor. Many of the professional friendships I formed as a graduate student in the department have continued.”

Occupational medicine, he said, has the potential to improve the health of workers, workplaces, and the environment.

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