Yolanda Sanchez

Second-year Master’s student Yolanda Sanchez received the School of Public Health’s annual Martin Luther King Award in January. The award cited her passion for environmental justice and her commitment to increasing the number of students from underrepresented backgrounds in the field of Environmental Health. Last summer she worked with the department’s webmaster to develop an Environmental Justice site. She also recruited for the department at the 2005 Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) conference. Yolanda serves as a graduate diversity recruiter for the UW Graduate School, coordinated the summer ConneX visits for high school and college students from the Yakima Valley to learn about Health Sciences at UW, and serves on the School of Public Health Diversity Taskforce.

Professor Noah Seixas was invited to the National Academy of Sciences to present stakeholder input to the NAS committee reviewing the effectiveness of NIOSH’s hearing-loss prevention program. Seixas received a five-year grant to study noise and hearing loss among construction apprentices. His study was renewed to continue following the same group of workers—now mostly working journeymen in their respective trades—for an additional five years. Dr. Seixas also has a NIOSH grant to study the effectiveness of a training intervention on use of hearing protection devices. Clinical Professor Michael Silverstein serves on the NAS committee, which is interested in industry collaborations and “research-to-practice” projects.

Baniel Luchtel

Professor Dan Luchtel has been selected as chair elect of the Faculty Senate, the legislative body of the University faculty. He was previously chair of the faculty council on faculty affairs.

Phillip Buff

Roosevelt building receptionist Phillip Buff was named 2005 Outstanding Combined Fund Drive Coordinator by the UW. University faculty, staff, Phillip Buff and students contributed a total of $1.6 million to the CFD.

Professor Terry Kavanagh was awarded equipment funds from the School of Public Health and Community Medicine to purchase a FG Xcyte Laser system as part of the Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health analytical cytometry facility core. The core’s specialized tools help assess the effects of toxic chemicals on cell physiology, structure, and function.

Professor Elaine Faustman was elected as a Councilor for the Society for Risk Analysis. The Council serves as a board of directors for this international organization. She also was awarded an EPA Star Grant, which will allow expansion of research projects for the Center for Child Environmental Health Risks Research.

Assistant Professor Chris Simpson is the principal investigator on a $50,000 pilot project that may expand into a larger grant. The pilot grant is called “Characterization of diet- and exercise-dependent metabolic phenotypes: Evaluating response to interventions.” It is part of a National Cancer Research center grant on transdisciplinary research in exercise and cancer, awarded to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Chang-Fu Wu, a 2002 graduate of our PhD program and an affiliate assistant professor in our department, passed his Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) exam. Wu teaches at National Taiwan University. He said our Industrial Hygiene program prepared him well for this exam.

Senior Lecturer Chuck Treser became chair of the American Public Health Association (APHA) Education Board in December. The Education Board is charged with maintaining and enhancing professional knowledge, increasing technical proficiencies, and enabling members to promote and protect environmental and community health. His term is three years.

Professor Dave Eaton has been chosen to provide the Distinguished Faculty Lecture from our department this year. The lecture date, time, and location are still to be announced.

About 130 researchers from our department and the School of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene at the University of British Columbia attended the 18th annual Occupational and Environmental Health Conference at Semiahmoo in January. UW speakers were Sverre Vedal, Mike Paulsen, Alon Peretz, Kristin Miller, Chris Carlsten, Diana Ceballos, Dave Kalman, Mike Yost, Elaine Faustman, Ming Tsai, Matt Keifer, and Janet Blackstone. Vedal helped organize this year’s conference, which drew a record number of students.

Steve Cant,, a 1973 graduate of our master’s program and an affiliate assistant professor in our department, has been named director of the Workplace Industrial Safety and Health division of the Washington Department of Labor and Industries.

Rich Fenske serving as chief outside examiner at the dissertation defense of Aurora Aragon in Stockholm, Sweden.
Courtesy of Rich Fenske

Professor Rich Fenske went to Stockholm in December to serve as the “opponent” (chief outside examiner) for the dissertation defense of Aurora Aragon. Dr. Aragon is our department’s main collaborator at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN) through the International Scholars in Occupational and Environmental Health program.

Lecturer Rick Gleason provided a presentation to 50 construction workers for Tri State Construction’s annual safety training day on Jan. 2 in Bellevue. His topic was: “Construction Safety and Health in Washington State: Lessons Learned from 2005.” Gleason also gave the keynote talk to 150 workers at the Avista Electrical Power Utilities Annual Conference in Spokane on Jan. 17. The topic was “Motivating Workers in Safety and Health in the Electrical Power Industry.”

Research Scientist Rick Neitzel was featured on a KOMO 4 News piece on hearing loss caused by iPods and certain types of headphones on Wednesday night, Feb 8.

The new year brought major changes to the continuing education staff. Director Scott MacKay returned to California State Dominguez Hills. Kate Stewart, a DEOHS lecturer, has joined CE as interim liaison to the faculty and professional community. Kate will help plan, guide the content of, and market CE courses and lectures until a permanent faculty outreach position is filled. Leslie Fleming, coordinator for the Pacific Northwest OSHA Education Center, left at the end of January and has been replaced by Cynthia Baker.

The Field Research and Consultation Group is also in transition, as research ergonomists Steve Russell and Lori Winnemuller have gone to work with our partner, Boeing. Hiring is underway for a new industrial hygienist.

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