Profile

Thematic session: Health and the Environment
Friday Nov. 16, 13h30-15h00

Richard Joseph Jackson is Adjunct Professor of Environmental Health and of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley. He has served in many leadership positions with the California Health Department, including the highest: the State Health Officer. For nine years, he was Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) National Center for Environmental Health in Atlanta. In 2005, he was recognized with the highest civilian award for US Government service, the Presidential Distinguished Executive Award.

While in California, his work led to the establishment of the California Birth Defects Monitoring Program and state and national laws that eliminated a series of dangerous pesticides. While at CDC, he established the national asthma epidemiology and control program, and oversaw the childhood lead poisoning prevention program. He instituted the current federal effort to "biomonitor" chemical levels in the US population. He was the US lead under several US government efforts around health and environment in Russia, including radiation threats. In the late 1990s, he was the CDC leader in establishing the US National Pharmaceutical Stockpile to prepare for terrorism and other disasters - which was activated on September 11, 2001.

Dick Jackson co-authored Urban Sprawl and Public Health, a 2004 book from Island Press. He has served on many medical and health boards, and in September 2005, he was selected to serve on the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Architects. His strongest public health interest is in developing the next generation of leaders in Public Health.