School of Public Health and Community Medicine - University of Washington - Autumn 2006

Ryan Allen, a 2004 PhD graduate and Joel Kaufman’s senior fellow, has been hired as an assistant professor at Simon Frasier University in British Columbia.

James Blessman, a 1989 graduate of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program, has been appointed to the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety & Health for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). He teaches at Wayne State University and serves as the medical director for Detroit city employees.

Professor Harvey Checkoway received a visiting scientist fellowship from the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, to spend a sabbatical June through December. In June, he gave an invited keynote speech at the International Commission on Occupational Health Congress in Milan, “Balancing future resources for epidemiologic research on old and newly emerging occupational hazards.”

Bill Daniell has replaced Matt Keifer as Graduate Program Director. Keifer has replaced Daniell as leader of the Environmental and Occupational Health MPH program.

Paul Darby, a 2003 graduate of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program, has been named medical director of the Tacoma Port Clinic. He serves as a board member of the Northwest Association of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

In July, Professor Dave Eaton led several Congressional and White House briefings in Washington, DC, including a press conference, to present the results of a National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council report titled: “Health risks from dioxin and related compounds: Evaluation of the EPA reassessment.” This was a long-awaited external evaluation of the EPA’s 14-year risk assessment project. A worldwide committee of 18 scientists developed the Academy report and Eaton chaired the committee. Eaton also gave a presentation on Glutathione S-transferases in a short course on recent developments in drug metabolism and disposition at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Sciences in San Antonio, Texas, in the autumn.

Professor Rich Fenske serves on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Human Studies Review Board, established earlier this year to provide advice and recommendations to EPA on issues related to the scientific and ethical review of human subjects research. Fenske and his former postdoctoral fellow, Chensheng (Alex) Lu, continue to get widespread coverage on research findings of pesticide metabolites in children. A flurry of media coverage followed publication of a paper in the February 2006 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, “OP pesticides in children’s bodies: The effects of a conventional versus organic diet.” Dr. Lu is now at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta.

Research Professor Gary Franklin and colleagues presented a paper on state legislation expanding the role of nurse practitioners in a workers’ compensation system at the Workers’ Compensation Research Group in November in Boston.

Lecturer Rick Gleason spoke at the Road and Street Maintenance Hazards Supervisor Conference in Spokane in October, at the Western Regional Universities Consortium and the American Society of Safety Engineers Conference in Seattle in June, and the Washington Governor’s Health and Safety Conference in Spokane in September.

Michael Grey, a 1989 graduate of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program, is acting division chief for Occupational-Environmental Medicine at the University of Connecticut Medical Center and principal investigator for the University’s NIOSH-supported residency training grant.

The Continuing Education program has hired Steve Hecker as senior lecturer and director of occupational safety and health education and outreach, and Mike Willis as manager of the Pacific Northwest OSHA Center. Hecker, a 1981 graduate of our program, comes from the University of Oregon, where he was associate professor in the Labor Education & Research Center. Willis comes from UW Educational Outreach, where he was acting director of marketing.

Assistant Professor Pete Johnson’s ergonomics lab worked with Microsoft to develop a better mouse. The Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 is designed to reduce the occurrence and severity of repetitive strain injuries while increasing productivity and comfort. Johnson’s lab previously helped Microsoft develop an ergonomic keyboard that is now the top-selling wired keyboard.

Research scientist Rick Neitzel was selected to attend the American Industrial Hygiene Association’s second-ever Future Leaders Institute Oct. 19–22 in Chicago. The event was designed to help the 46 select young industrial hygienists develop leadership skills.

The Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health (PNASH) center has received a new five-year, $6.8 million award from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to continue its work to prevent occupational disease and injury among agricultural operators, workers, and their families in the Northwest. The theme of the center is promoting safe and sustainable agricultural workplaces and communities. The new NIOSH award includes seven new projects and an annual pilot project program that funds small grants.

Maggie Trabeau, a 2006 graduate of the Industrial Hygiene master’s program, has begun work as an industrial hygienist for The Boeing Co.

Research Associate Professor Lianne Sheppard was elected as a fellow of the American Statistical Association in August.

Assistant Professor Chris Simpson was awarded an R21 grant from NIEHS titled: “Evaluation of urinary 1-nitropyrene metabolites as a biomarker of exposure to diesel exhaust.” He also was invited to lecture at the Center for Environmental Health Sciences and the Department of Chemistry, University of Montana at Missoula, on “Biological monitoring of woodsmoke exposure.”

Professor Sverre Vedal’s HEI grant was recently funded. This is a four-year grant with particulate matter and epidemiology components.

Tailpipe monitoring of
a Tahoma School District bus.
Courtesy of Sally Liu

DIESEL BUS STUDY

Research Associate Professor Sally Liu’s research team has pinpointed crankcase emissions as the source of most pollution on school buses. A significant practical outcome of the UW study is to lower levels of particulate matter (PM) inside school buses and to protect children who ride the buses.

The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency has incorporated the UW research findings into its transportation policies, and International Truck and Engine Corp., a cosponsor of the study, plans to implement technology in its 2007 model school buses that will achieve near-zero PM emissions from both the crankcase and tailpipe. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences is the primary sponsor of the study.

Two Seattle television stations, KING 5 and KOMO TV, aired news stories about the studies on Aug. 22.

The Liu lab hosted an open house for study subjects and their parents in August.

Top