Bernard D. Goldstein, MD, professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at GSPH will be the interim director of the Center for Healthy Environments and Communities (CHEC), effective immediately. Goldstein, the former dean of GSPH, is an environmental toxicologist and his research interests have focused largely on the concept of biological markers in the field of risk assessment.
“As the author of more than 150 peer-reviewed publications related to environmental medicine, Dr. Goldstein will ensure the Center for Healthy Environments and Communities will continue its mission of improving the health of western Pennsylvania through community-based research,” said GSPH Dean Donald S. Burke, MD. “He is the ideal person to direct CHEC activities while a search for a permanent director takes place.”
Goldstein’s past experience includes an appointment as assistant administrator for research and development at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the accomplishment of being the founding director of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, a state university program that responded to environmental issues in New Jersey. He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. Goldstein has been president of the Society for Risk Analysis and a member or chairman of numerous federal and World Health Organization committees, including chairman of the National Institutes of Health Toxicology Study Section and EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee.
Founded in 2004 under a grant from the Heinz Endowments, CHEC aims to improve environmental health through research, collaboration, teaching, advocacy and community service. The center provides better access to and encourages increased awareness of environmental health issues and information. CHEC employs eight faculty and staff members and uses the help of graduate students and interns.
GSPH, founded in 1948 and now one of the top-ranked schools of public health in the United States, conducts research on public health and medical care that improves the lives of millions of people around the world. GSPH is a leader in devising new methods to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases, HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other important public health issues.
4/29/2011