Michael Morgan Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Professor Michael Morgan is the 2008 recipient of the Meritorious Achievement Award from the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). The award, presented at the American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Expo, recognizes Morgan's outstanding, long-term contributions to the field of occupational health and industrial hygiene.

Morgan earned his doctoral degree in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed post-doctoral training in respiratory physiology at Harvard University's School of Public Health.

He joined the UW Department of Environmental and Occupational Health in 1974. His research topics focus on human responses to the inhalation of air contaminants, including combustion products (sulfur dioxide and sulfate particles), ozone and volatile solvents.

His research program in pharmacokinetics and biological monitoring of organic solvents is funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Morgan has won several teaching awards and has supervised the graduate research projects of 65 students in industrial hygiene and toxicology.

He is editor in chief of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene and author of more than 65 peer-reviewed publications.

(Reprinted from Environmental Health News, Spring/Summer 2008, University of Washington Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences)

Northeast Regional Public Health Leadership

Karla Armenti, ScD, recently completed a year-long program with the Northeast Regional Public Health Leadership Institute (http://www.albany.edu/sph/nephli/).  Her final project was to develop a stakeholder approach to performing occupational health surveillance in New Hampshire.  As a result of this initiative, they have pulled together key occupational health stakeholders and are working on a report documenting occupational injuries and illness in New Hampshire.  Included in this report will be an occupational poisoning study done by a student from the University of Massachuestts, Lowell (David Skinner), Work Environment Program.  An MPH student from the University of New Hampshire (Owen David) is helping to write the report and plan a one-day conference/workshop to be held in March.  At this meeting, the report will be rolled out and efforts will be made to engage key stakeholders in a discussion about how the data can inform their efforts in developing effective interventions to reduce work related injuries and illness. For more information and/or comments Dr. Armenti can be reached at karmenti@dhhs.state.nh.us.