University Of Pittsburgh Scientist Wins International Award For Outstanding Contributions To Safeguard Public Health

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 10 Nov 2008 - 9:00 PDT

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Bernard D. Goldstein, M.D., professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, has won the 2008 Ramazzini Award. The award is bestowed annually by the Collegium Ramazzini, an international academic society based in Carpi, Italy dedicated to understanding and preventing occupational and environmental disease.

Dr. Goldstein was presented with the award on October 25 in the former Convent of San Rocco in Carpi for his lifetime achievements in improving environmental and occupational health policy nationally and globally.

"The Ramazzini Award is the top annual international award in occupational health and a great honor for Dr. Goldstein and our school," said Donald S. Burke, M.D., dean, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. "His research on environmental exposures has protected the health of workers, the general population and the natural environment worldwide."

In a career spanning more than 40 years, Dr. Goldstein has made major contributions to understanding the toxicity of air pollutants, the effect of benzene and other chemicals on human blood and how cancer-causing substances are formed after exposure to chemical inhalants. He has written extensively on the interface between environmental science, public policy and the law.

Dr. Goldstein is former dean of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and founding director of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute in New Jersey. As a member of the Institute of Medicine, he has chaired more than a dozen committees evaluating issues central to environmental and occupational health.

Dr. Goldstein's other honors include the Robert A. Kehoe Award of Merit from the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the Katherine Boucot Sturgis award from the American College of Preventive Medicine, the Distinguished Service Award from the American College of Toxicology, and the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Society for Risk Analysis. He is a former Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The Ramazzini Award was named for Bernardino Ramazzini (1633-1714), an Italian physician considered the father of occupational medicine. During annual Ramazzini Days, held every year during the last weekend of October, the Mayor of Carpi confers the award to a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to occupational health.

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