Appendix A1
Biographies of Commission Members
Dr. Gilbert S. Omenn, Chair
Dr. Omenn is Professor of Environmental Health and of Medicine and Dean of the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle. His research and public policy interests include genetic predisposition to environmental and occupational health hazards, chemoprevention of cancers, health promotion for older adults, and risk analysis. From 1977 to 1981, Dr. Omenn was a Deputy Science and Technology Adviser in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and then an Associate Director of the Office of Management and Budget. As the first Science and Public Policy Fellow at The Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, he coauthored the influential 1981 study, Clearing the Air: Reforming the Clean Air Act. The author of 380 research papers and scientific reviews, as well as author/editor of 14 books, Dr. Omenn received his A.B. from Princeton University, his M.D. from Harvard, and a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Washington.
Alan C. Kessler, Vice-Chair
A partner in the Philadelphia office of the law firm of Buchanan Ingersoll Professional Corporation, Mr. Kessler has extensive experience in the defense and litigation of major class action toxic tort suits in federal and state courts, as well as experience in the successful defense and prosecution of major federal antitrust and securities class action suits. Three times elected as a Township Commissioner for the Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania (population 58,000), Mr. Kessler also has been appointed by three successive Philadelphia mayors to various city boards and commissions. He also has been an advisor to a number of mayoral, gubernatorial, senatorial and presidential campaigns, and served on President Clinton’s transition team. Mr. Kessler received his B.A. from the University of Delaware and his law degree from the University of Maryland.
Norman T. Anderson
Mr. Anderson is Director of Research for the American Lung Association of Maine. President of the Maine Biological and Medical Sciences Symposium, he also is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was a regional air toxicologist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Boston; a regulatory toxicologist for the Maine Bureau of Health, and an environmental health scientist for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. He also has served on numerous environmental health advisory committees at the state and local level. Mr. Anderson received his B.A. from Brown University and his Masters of Science in Public Health from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He also has studied immunology and pathology at the Boston University School of Medicine.
Dr. Peter Y. Chiu
Dr. Chiu is Senior Physician for The Kaiser Permanente Medical Group in Milpitas, CA, and an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Stanford University Medical School. Dr. Chiu has been a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians since 1989, and also has been a registered civil engineer in California since 1972. He served as the principal environmental engineer for the Association of Bay Area Governments between 1976 and 1979 and was responsible for planning, organizing and directing environmental management programs for the San Francisco Bay area. He also served on the California Regional Water Quality Control Board from 1979 to 1984. Dr. Chiu received his B.S. in Civil Engineering, his Masters of Public Health degree, and his Doctor of Public Health degree from the University of California, Berkeley; and his M.D. degree from Stanford University.
Dr. John Doull
Dr. Doull is a Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology and Therapeutics at the University of Kansas Medical Center. A former president of the American Board of Toxicology and the Society of Toxicology, Dr. Doull served on the boards of the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology and The Toxicology Forum. Dr. Doull has also served as a consultant to numerous government agencies, private institutes, foundations and businesses. He is the recipient of many professional honors, including one named for him, the John Doull Award presented by the Mid-America Chapter of the Society of Toxicology. Dr. Doull received his B.S. in Chemistry from Montana State College, and his Ph.D. in Pharmacology and M.D. degrees from the University of Chicago.
Dr. Bernard Goldstein
Dr. Goldstein is Director of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, a joint program of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers University, and Chairman of the Department of Environmental and Community Medicine at the medical school. He is a former member of the New York University faculty and a former president of the Association of University Environmental Health Sciences Centers. Dr. Goldstein has undertaken many major consultation and committee assignments. He has published more than 200 articles and book chapters related to environmental sciences and public policy. Dr. Goldstein received his B.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin and his M.D. from New York University School of Medicine.
Dr. Joshua Lederberg
Dr. Lederberg, a Noble Prize winning research geneticist, is President Emeritus of The Rockefeller University and remains a professor and Sackler Foundation Scholar there. He received the 1958 Nobel Prize in Medicine for studies on the exchange of genetic material in bacteria and the U.S. National Medal of Science in 1989. Dr. Lederberg was a professor of genetics at the University of Wisconsin and Stanford University School of Medicine before becoming president of The Rockefeller University in 1978. A member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1957 and a charter member of its Institute of Medicine, Dr. Lederberg has been active on many government advisory committees and boards and served as Chairman of the President’s Cancer Panel from 1979 to 1981. Dr. Lederberg received his B.A. from Columbia College, was a medical student at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and obtained his Ph.D. from Yale.
Dr. Sheila M. McGuire
Dr. McGuire is president of the Iowa Health Research Institute and an expert in the epidemiology of oral diseases, geriatrics research, and fluoride research. A former Assistant Professor in the Harvard Medical School’s Department of Dental Care Administration and adjunct faculty member at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry, Dr. McGuire was a member of the Health Professionals Review Group for the White House Task Force on National Health Care Reform. She also served a two-year term as chair of the Massachusetts Public Health Association’s Legislative Committee. Dr. McGuire received her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Iowa; her Master’s in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health; and her Doctorate of Medical Sciences in Epidemiology from Harvard.
Dr. David Rall
Dr. Rall is the former Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and is one of the world’s leading authorities on toxicology and environmental health. He was the founding Director of the National Toxicology Program, the largest toxicity testing program in the world, and has authored and co-authored approximately 170 papers relating to comparative pharmacology, cancer chemotherapy, pesticide toxicology, drug research and regulation, among other topics. Dr. Rall has served on and/or chaired numerous interagency and international committees on toxicology and environmental health, and now is serving as foreign secretary for the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine. Dr. Rall received his B.S. degree from North Central College and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Pharmacology, as well as his M.D. degree, from Northwestern University.
Dr. Virginia V. Weldon
Dr. Weldon is Senior Vice President, Public Policy, for Monsanto Company. Her overall responsibilities include identifying public policy issues affecting the company, setting priorities, and implementing Monsanto’s approach to these issues. Prior to joining Monsanto in 1989 as Vice President, Scientific Affairs, Dr. Weldon was a professor of pediatrics, deputy chancellor for medical affairs, and vice president of the Medical Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Medical Center. She is a member of the President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, and a distinguished service member of the Association of American Medical Colleges, whose assembly she chaired in 1985-86. Dr. Weldon received her A.B. degree from Smith College and her M.D. degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Dr. Gail Charnley, Executive Director
Dr. Charnley has 20 years of experience in environmental toxicology and risk assessment, including laboratory research focusing on the role of environmental factors in human cancers. She was most recently acting director of the toxicology and risk assessment program at the National Academy of Sciences, where she served as project director of several committees convened to evaluate methodologic questions related to evaluating human health effects from chemical exposures. She has performed health risk assessments and developed regulatory criteria for human exposure to environmental contaminants for a variety of regulatory agencies and has chaired several U.S. Army Science Board committees. She currently serves as a councilor of the Society for Risk Analysis. Dr. Charnley received her A.B. in Biochemistry from Wellesley College and her Ph.D. in Toxicology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.