SMART people

Biography:

Richard Joseph Jackson is a Professor in the School of Public Health and Director and Graham Family Professor of the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute answering to the Provost at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

A pediatrician and public health leader, he recently served as a professor in at the University of California, Berkeley. He served in many leadership positions with the California Public Health Department, including the highest, 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 U.S. 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 reduced risks from dangerous pesticides, especially to farm workers and children. While at CDC he established the national asthma epidemiology and control program, and advanced the childhood lead poisoning prevention program.

He instituted the current federal effort to “biomonitor” chemical levels in the U.S. population. He was the U.S. lead under several U.S. government efforts around health and environment in Russia, including radiation threats. In the late 1990s he was the CDC leader in establishing the U.S. National Pharmaceutical Stockpile to prepare for terrorism and other disasters—which was activated on September 11, 2001. In 2006 he received the Breast Cancer Fund’s Hero Award and at the UC Berkeley 2007 Commencement, the School of Public Health graduate students recognized him as the Distinguished Teacher and Mentor of the Year.

Dick Jackson co-authored Urban Sprawl and Public Health, a 2004 book from Island Press. He has served on many environmental and health boards, as well as the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Architects. He views climate change and lack of sustainability as the critical environmental public health threat of the 21st Century and has dedicated the remainder of his professional career to confronting these challenges.

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