ACGIH®, the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, will honor its 2019 Awards recipients at the American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition (AIHce) held May 20-22, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Each year, ACGIH® honors individuals and/or groups who have made significant contributions to the profession through their leadership and dedication. This year’s awardees join that distinguished list.
Herbert E. Stokinger Award Recipient: Vincent Castranova, PhD
The Herbert E. Stokinger Award is given each year to an individual who has made a significant contribution in the broad field of industrial and environmental toxicology.
Dr. Castranova is a professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, an adjunct professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the University of Pittsburgh, and a Visiting Scientist in the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.
Dr. Castranova received a BS degree in biology from Mount Saint Mary’s College, Emmitsburg, Maryland in 1970, graduating magna cum laude. He received a PhD in physiology and biophysics in 1974 from West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.
After completing his studies, Dr. Castranova became an NIH fellow and research faculty member in the Department of Physiology at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1977, Dr. Castranova received a research staff position at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and an adjunct faculty position at West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia. Before his retirement in 2014, Dr. Castranova was the Chief of the Pathology and Physiology Research Branch in the Health Effects Laboratory Division of NIOSH, Morgantown, West Virginia and held the grade of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Distinguished Consultant for many years. He was also coordinator of the Nanotoxicology Program in NIOSH from its inception in 2005 until his retirement.
Dr. Castranova’s research interests have been concentrated in the areas of pulmonary toxicology and occupational lung disease. He has co-edited four books, has given over 175 invited presentations, and has co-authored over 635 manuscripts and book chapters. He received the Shepard Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award from CDC in 2008, the ATS Assembly on Environmental & Occupational Health Val Vallyathan Senior Investigator Award in 2012, and the Inhalation and Respiratory Specialty Section/SOT Career Achievement Award in 2013. He also previously received this prestigious award in 2009.
Dr. Castranova’s contributions to the field of industrial and occupational toxicology have earned him the Herbert E. Stokinger Award.
John J. Bloomfield Award Recipient: Phillip Rauscher, MPH, CSP, CIH
The John J. Bloomfield Award is presented to a young industrial hygienist who pursues the problem of occupational health hazards primarily by doing fieldwork.
Mr. Rauscher is an Industrial Safety Hygienist at the State of Ohio-Division of Safety and Hygiene. He works primarily in the field performing comprehensive industrial hygiene and engineering surveys to anticipate, identify, evaluate and control airborne contaminants, noise levels and heat/cold stress. He also assists employers of various industries with development of safety programs and implementation of best practice guidelines and works with stakeholders to educate employers on common hazards in the workplace and compliance with federal and state law through development and implementation of both classroom and online training as well as publicly available educational materials.
Mr. Rauscher became a member of ACGIH® in 2014. He is also member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) and has served as the Secretary of the AIHA Northwest Chapter since 2014. Mr. Rauscher acts as a Liaison/Facilitator of the Ohio Safety Congress Chemical Committee, the nation’s largest regional safety conference. He is a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) and a Certified Safety Professional (CSP).
As a young industrial hygienist, Mr. Rauscher has made outstanding contributions to the industrial hygiene profession through fieldwork and commitment to the profession. His significant impact in the field as a practitioner and a leader are exemplary.
Meritorious Achievement Award Recipient: Lynn C. O’Donnell, CIH
The Meritorious Achievement Award recognizes members of ACGIH® who have made an outstanding, long-term contribution to the progress of occupational health and environmental hygiene. First presented in 1957, it is the organization’s oldest award. It has been given to individuals for singular achievement and to groups for collective accomplishment.
Ms. O’Donnell served as Executive Director of the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH) from 1991 until her retirement in 2014. Notably during her tenure, ABIH achieved American National Standards Institute/International Organization for Standardization (ANSI/ISO) and other accreditations, transitioned to a computer-based examination that is offered internationally, streamlined application and certification maintenance processes, and increased the number of CIHs from under 3900 to 6700. In 2016, Ms. O’Donnell was appointed as a Director of the Occupational Hygiene Training Association (OHTA) and Chair of the Awards and Qualifications Committee. Ms. O’Donnell joined ACGIH® in 1978 and presented the distinguished Jeffrey S. Lee Lecture at AIHce in 2014. She also served as a member of the ABIH Board of Directors from 1983–1989 and as a Councilor for the Academy of Industrial Hygiene (AIH). She was certified in the Comprehensive Practice of Industrial Hygiene by ABIH in 1981.
Among her many accomplishments, Ms. O'Donnell is an AIHA Fellow, recipient of the ACGIH® John J. Bloomfield and AIHA Alice Hamilton Awards, and the first recipient of the ABIH Lynn C. O’Donnell Lifetime Achievement Award.
Ms. O’Donnell’s dedication and service to the occupational health and industrial hygiene profession, her commitment to ACGIH®’s mission and support for our profession render her a worthy recipient of the Meritorious Achievement Award.
William Steiger Memorial Award Recipient: Michael J. Wright
The William Steiger Memorial Award honors individuals from the social/political sphere whose efforts have contributed to advancements in occupational health and safety.
Mr. Wright trained as an industrial engineer at Cornell, and an industrial hygienist at the Harvard School of Public Health. He joined the USW in 1977 and became department head in 1984. He has also served as the head of the union’s education department, where he directed the training for participants in the joint union-management partnership programs in the steel industry.
Mr. Wright has participated in the fight for numerous Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA) and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) standards, including lead, arsenic, asbestos, chromium, hazard communication, process safety management, confined spaces, lockout/tagout, beryllium, and diesel exhaust in underground mines. He has worked extensively on international health, safety and environment issues with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). He has taught safety and health, visited workplaces, and worked with unions in South Africa, Zimbabwe, India, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Poland, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Russia. Mr. Wright was a member of an international team that investigated the Bhopal disaster. He is a former member of the Program Advisory Committee of the International Program on Chemical Safety (IPCS), set up under the ILO, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UN environment). He also served on the international coordinating group overseeing the effort to harmonize chemical classification and labeling systems throughout the world, whose work resulted in the Globally Harmonized System for Chemical Classification and Labeling (GHS). Mr. Wright currently serves on the world’s first global union-management safety and health committee, established in 2009 by ArcelorMittal Steel.
Mr. Wright’s work has made a lasting impact on occupational safety and health and ACGIH® is pleased to honor him as the recipient of this year’s William Steiger Memorial Award.
Robert T. Hughes Memorial Award Recipient: Norma Donovan
The Robert T. Hughes Memorial Award was established in 2015 and first awarded in 2016. It recognizes outstanding individuals in the field of industrial ventilation.
Tirelessly, and without pay, Mrs. Donovan served the ACGIH® Industrial Ventilation Committee as an Editorial Consultant from its inception in 1950 through 2008. She was a major contributor to the publication of the first edition of ACGIH®’s Industrial Ventilation: A Manual of Recommended Practice. As the Committee’s official secretary, she held the primary responsibility for typing and assembly of 26 of the 30 editions of the Design Manual, as well as the first edition of its companion manual, Industrial Ventilation: A Manual of Recommended Practice for Operations and Maintenance.
In addition to her assistance with editing, typing, printing, and publishing of the ventilation manuals, Mrs. Donovan also provided for their storage in and distribution from the basement of her family home. She even ensured that when her family purchased a new home it possessed a walk-out basement, which greatly aided her Committee activities. Eighteen editions of ventilation manuals were stocked and sold for 35 years from her home until 1986 when ACGIH® assumed this effort.
Ken Robinson, a former member of the ACGIH® Industrial Ventilation Committee and its Chair from 1950 to 1952, stated, “There is no doubt in my mind that without Norma the Manual would never have been printed.” What a true testament of her loyalty and dedication to the Committee’s activities and immeasurable contributions to the field of industrial ventilation! Because of her years of loyal and devoted service to the Committee and ACGIH®, she was named an Honorary Member of ACGIH® in 1976.
ACGIH® is pleased to honor Mrs. Donovan as the recipient of this year’s Hughes Memorial Award.
ACGIH® is a 501(c)(3) charitable scientific organization that advances occupational and environmental health. ACGIH® is one of the industry’s leading publications resources, with approximately 400 titles relative to occupational and environmental health and safety, including the renowned TLVs® and BEIs®. For more information, visit the ACGIH® website at acgih.org or call our Customer Service Representatives at 513-742-2020.
