Media Availability: GW Public Health Expert Available to comment on the Human Health Aspects of the UN’s Newly Announced Initiative for Climate Change and Clean Air Aimed at Reducing Short-Lived Climate Pollutants
Biographical Information:Lynn R. Goldman, M.D., M.S., M.P.H.Dean, GW School of Public Health and Health Services
Pesticides are more tightly regulated, new knowledge has accumulated about how chemicals in the environment influence the health and development of children, and the nation is better prepared for emergencies, thanks to the policy and research contributions that Dean Lynn Goldman has made over the past two decades.
As Dean of SPHHS, Dr. Goldman’s responsibilities are informed by her broad and deep public policy and academic experience. She joined the school in August 2010 from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she had been Professor of Environmental Health Sciences since July 2000.
In that capacity, she served as principal investigator of the National Children’s Study Center at Hopkins. That ambitious research initiative, part of an DHHS study that follows 100,000 children from birth to age 21, is examining the interaction of numerous environmental influences – including biological, chemical, and social factors, genetics, culture and family, and geography – on children’s health. Dr. Goldman was also the co-PI of the National Study Center for Preparedness and Critical Event Response, which supports the mission of the Department of Homeland Security through research and educational initiatives designed to build the science of preparedness.
Prior to joining Hopkins, Dr. Goldman was Assistant Administrator for Toxic Substances in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1993 to 1998 under President Bill Clinton. Under her watch, the EPA overhauled the nation’s pesticide laws, expanded right-to-know requirements for toxin release, reached consensus on an approach to testing chemicals with endocrine-disrupting potential, developed standards to implement lead screening legislation, and promoted children’s health and global chemical safety.
Dr. Goldman also worked in environmental health for the California Department of Public Health Services. Among other responsibilities, she managed a statewide environmental epidemiology program that focused on childhood lead poisoning, birth defects, and occupational health.
Dean Goldman is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Environmental Defense Fund. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine, where she has chaired or served on committees focused on secondhand smoke, public health preparedness, environmental health, and health sciences policy. She is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences Board on Environmental Sciences and Toxicology.
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