University of California
Michael P. Wilson, PhD, MPH

Michael P. Wilson, PhD, MPH

Research Scientist
School of Public Health
Center for Occupational & Environmental Health
University of California
140 Warren Hall #7360
Berkeley, CA 94720-7360
mpwilson@berkeley.edu
510-642-5703 Fax: 510-642-5815

Full CV (pdf)

Green Chemistry: Cornerstone to a Sustainable California. Report to California EPA (2008)
UC Berkeley/UCLA press release | California EPA press release

Program in Green Chemistry and Chemicals Policy (2008)

Green Chemistry in California: A Framework for Leadership in Chemicals Policy and Innovation. Report to the California Legislature (2006)
Executive Summary
| UC Berkeley press release


Creative Achievements

• Doctoral (Ph.D) and masters (MPH) studies in environmental health sciences at UC Berkeley from 1996 to 2003. In his doctoral research, Dr. Wilson obtained the first worker exposure data to volatile organic compounds in the vehicle repair industry, which shed light on exposures related to the first-reported cases of hexane-induced peripheral neuropathy in this industry. His work also illuminated larger policy challenges facing California and the U.S. regarding the design, use, and regulation of chemicals in processes and products.
•  Chief author of the University of California report, Green Chemistry in California: A Framework for Leadership in Chemicals Policy and Innovation- http://coeh.berkeley.edu/news/06_wilson_policy.htm. The California Legislature requested the report in January, 2004. The report was released to the Legislature by the California Policy Research Center of the UC Office of the President on March 14, 2006.
•  Presented findings of the UC chemicals policy report before the California Senate Committee on Environmental Quality on June 28, 2006 in Sacramento, California (http://www.cicc.org/pdf/Wilson%20_Testimony_6.28.06.pdf) and before the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on August 2, 2006, in Washington, D.C. (http://epw.senate.gov/hearing_statements.cfm?id=260423.) He continues to present the report’s findings to public interest, industry, and governmental entities throughout the U.S.

Appointments
• On August 31, 2007, Dr. Wilson was appointed by California Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez to the nine-member California Environmental Contaminant Biomonitoring Program Scientific Guidance Panel (http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a46/press/20070831AD46PR01.htm.)
• On July 31, 2007, Dr. Wilson was appointed to Cal/EPA's Green Chemistry Science Advisory Panel (http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/PressRoom/upload/News_2007_T_17_07.pdf.)
 
Current Research Interests
• Research and practice in the area of chemicals policy and in occupational health and safety.
• Support has been provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the UC Office of the President, the UC Toxic Substances Research and Teaching Program, the California Department of Health Services, and private foundation grants. Dr. Wilson is a 2002-2003 Fellow of the Switzer Foundation.
 
Key Publications
• Protecting Workers in Industrial Confined Spaces. Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, UC Berkeley. March 2008. [full text] (pdf)
• Worker exposure to volatile organic compounds in the vehicle repair industry, Michael P. Wilson, S. Katharine Hammond, Alan Hubbard, Mark Nicas (Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene , 4:301-310, May 2007.) [full text] (pdf)
•  Executive Summary: Green Chemistry in California: A Framework for Chemicals Policy and Innovation , Michael P. Wilson, Daniel A. Chia, Bryan C. Ehlers (New Solutions: A Journal of Occupational and Environmental Policy, Vol 16(4), Dec 2006.) [full text] (pdf)
•  Testimony before the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Michael P. Wilson (Congressional Quarterly , August 2, 2006) [full text] (pdf)
•  Green Chemistry in California: A Framework for Leadership in Chemicals Policy and Innovation Special Report , (University of California Policy Research Center, March 14, 2006) Project website
•  Modeling Occupational Exposure of Automobile Workers to Solvents. Co-authors Stefanie Helwig, Michael Wilson, Tom McKone, S. Katharine Hammond (Exposure Analysis, submitted for publication, January 2007.)
•  n-Hexane-Related Peripheral Neuropathy Among Automotive Technicians - California, 1999-2000. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Review 2001; 50(45):1011-3. [full text]
•  Doctoral Dissertation: n-Hexane Exposure in the California Vehicle Repair Industry: Risk Assessment and Policy Analysis, the Bancroft Library and the School of Public Health Library, University of California, Berkeley. 
 
Teaching
Dr. Wilson conducts lectures at UC Berkeley in courses pertaining to exposure assessment, the environmental health sciences doctoral and masters seminars, risk assessment, research methodology, environmental policy, and chemicals policy.
 
Honors
• Fellow (Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation, 2002-03)
• Legge Memorial Award (American Industrial Hygiene Association, Northern California Section, 2002)
• James Keogh Memorial Award (American Public Health Association, Occupational Health and Safety Section, 2000)
• Bernard D. Tebbens Memorial Award (American Industrial Hygiene Association, Northern California Section, 1998)
• Finalist, Industrial Safety Analysis (Semiconductor Industry Safety Association, 1997)
• Industrial Toxicology Award (Environmental Health Sciences, UCB, 1997)
• Scholarship (American Industrial Hygiene Foundation, 1997)
• Scholarship (National Safety Council, 1997)
• Scholarship (UC Berkeley Public Health Alumni Association, 1997)
• Outstanding Service Award (International Association of Firefighters, 1996)
• Harvard Trade Union Program Scholarship (International Association of Firefighters, 1995)
 
Biography
• Ph.D, Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley
• MPH, Industrial Hygiene, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley
• Bachelor's degree (BA) in biology in 1984 from the University of California, Santa Cruz, with Thesis Honors.
• 1995 graduate of the Trade Union Program at Harvard University.
• 1985 graduate of the Pre-Hospital Care Program at Stanford University.
• 1978 to 1996: served in the emergency services as a crewman and coxswain with the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve in Monterey, California, as a firefighter-paramedic with the Salinas City Fire Department, as a paramedic with Santa Cruz Ambulance Service, Inc. and as a representative of fire and EMS labor organizations.