April 28, 2008
7:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Eberly College of Business - Eberly Auditorium
Book signing and reception to follow. The program marks Workers Memorial Day.
Author of the widely acclaimed book, When Smoke Ran Like Water: Tales of Environmental Deception and the Battle Against Pollution (Basic Books, 2002), which won a National Book Award (the first book on the environment to win this award since Silent Spring) epidemiologist Devra Davis is one of the world's most visible and outspoken advocates for improvingthe environment to protect public health.
Dr. Davis is visiting professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz School as well as honorary professor, London's School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and an expert advisor to the World Health Organization. President Bill Clinton appointed Dr. Davis to the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, (1994–99), an independent executive branch agency that investigates, prevents, and mitigates chemical accidents.
As the former senior advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Health in the Department of Health and Human Services, she has counseled leading officials in the United States, United Nations, World Health Organization and World Bank. She was also a distinguished visiting professor at the Yeshiva University and Stem College for 1996–97 and scholar in residence and executive director of the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology at the U.S. National Research Council, of the National Academy of Science, 1983–93.
Dr. Davis holds a B.S. in physiological psychology and a M.A. in sociology from the University of Pittsburgh. She completed a Ph.D. in science studies at the University of Chicago, as a Danforth Foundation Graduate Fellow and a M.P.H. in epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University, as a Senior National Cancer Institute Post-Doctoral Fellow. She has also authored more than 170 publications.
