The American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition (AIHce) 2013 concluded its six-day event with the induction of a new American Industrial Hygiene Association® (AIHA) leader. Barbara J. Dawson, CIH, CSP, was inducted as president of the international professional society, which represents 10,000 occupational and environmental health and safety professionals.

Dawson noted that she is excited to take the helm as head of the organization as it celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2014 and hopes her presidency will define her as a collaborator as well as a leader. Her term runs through AIHce 2014, which will take place May 31 through June 5 in San Antonio, Texas.

“AIHA is going to be celebrating a milestone birthday,” said Dawson. “As we get ready to turn 75, we have to stop and celebrate our profession’s success over the past 75 years. At the same time, we have to look forward and ask ourselves what the next 75 will look like.”

Dawson has been an active member of AIHA since 1982 and has served as president of two local AIHA sections. She was also named an AIHA Fellow in 2009.

In addition to her role at AIHA, Dawson is the global occupational health competency leader for DuPont in Wilmington, Delaware. Prior to working at DuPont, she was an industrial hygienist with the SmithKline Beecham Corporation (now GlaxoSmithKline) and Rohm and Haas. She graduated with her master’s degree in industrial hygiene from Temple University in 1981.

For more information about AIHce 2014, visit: http://aihce2014.org/. The deadline for PDCs is September 1 and the deadline for submitting technical presentations is September 13.