Director of LOHP
COEH, School of Public Health
University of California
2223 Fulton St, 4th Floor
Berkeley, CA 94720-5120
mpwilson@berkeley.edu
510-642-5703 | Fax: 510-643-5698
Websites:
Labor Occupational Health Program (LOHP)
Program in Green Chemistry and Chemicals Policy
Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry (BCGC)
Michael P. Wilson is the Director of UC Berkeley’s Labor Occupational Health Program (LOHP). He is an environmental health scientist at UCB’s Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, and Associate Director for Integrative Sciences of the newly formed Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry (BCGC). The BCGC includes the Berkeley Colleges and Schools of chemistry, public health, natural resources, engineering, and business. The Center is organizing interdisciplinary green chemistry research, education and public engagement to address the growing problem of chemical pollution and exposures.
Dr. Wilson earned his BA in Biology (1984) from University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Master of Public Health (1998) and PhD (2003) in Environmental Health Sciences from UC Berkeley. His doctoral dissertation demonstrated that exposure to n-hexane from the use of brake cleaning products was the cause of a disabling neurological disease among workers in the vehicle repair industry. His research helped support interventions by the Occupational Health Branch of the California Department of Public Health (n-Hexane).
Dr. Wilson is a graduate of the Trade Union Program at Harvard University, the Projecto Linguistico Francisco Marroquin in Antigua, Guatemala, and the Pre-Hospital Care Program at Stanford University.
Dr. Wilson serves on the California EPA Green Ribbon Science Panel and the state’s Biomonitoring Scientific Guidance Panel. His report to the California Legislature in 2006, (2006 report) and a subsequent 2008 report to Cal/EPA (2008 report) co-authored with Dr. Megan Schwarzman and UCLA colleagues, and signed by 127 UC faculty from across the UC system, linked green chemistry innovation with chemicals policy and informed the initial framework of the California Green Chemistry Initiative. Dr. Wilson’s recent papers in Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) and Science (Science) also published with Dr. Schwarzman, explore the role of chemicals policy and the environmental health sciences in advancing green chemistry and the green economy.
Dr. Wilson has testified on the connections between chemicals policy, green chemistry innovation, and the environmental health sciences before numerous governmental bodies, including the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, the California Senate Environmental Quality Committee, and multiple committees of the California Legislature.
From 1981—1996, Dr. Wilson worked in the Central Coast area of California as an EMT, paramedic, firefighter-paramedic, and U.S. Coast Guard reserve crewman and helmsman; as a rank-and-file organizer and field representative for SEIU Local 250; as co-founder of the Central America Health Rights Project; and as an officer with Salinas Firefighters IAFF Local 1270, AFL-CIO/CLC. He presently serves as a Hazardous Materials Specialist for FEMA Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) California Task Force 4 in Oakland, California (TF-4)
OnEarth Magazine feature article, Pure Chemistry, by Laura Wright Treadway
http://www.onearth.org/article/pure-chemistry
Keynote address before the General Session of the American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exhibition, May 17, 2011.
Full text of speech | AIHA press release | EHS Today article
A UC Berkeley press release and video on the Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry appeared in late March: http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/03/22/green-chemistry-conference
An NPR report on Living on Earth featuring Dr. Wilson’s work in founding the Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry: http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=10-P13-00047&segmentID=4
His most recent testimony before the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials and Health Committees [pdf]
Publications
Wilson M. In the Arc of History: AIHA and the Movement to Reform the Toxic Substances Control Act. 2012 May; J. Occ Env Hygiene, 9(5):D87-94
Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22530686
Wilson M, Madison H, Healy S. Confined Space Emergency Response: Assessing Employer and Fire Department Practices. 2012 February; J. Occ Env Hygiene, 9(2), 120-128
Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22300305
Scruggs C, Ortolano L, Schwarzman M, Wilson M. 2010. Evolution of Chemicals Management in the U.S: Perspectives from 1970—2010. Submitted October 14, 2010 to J. of Env Planning and Management
Schwarzman M, Wilson M. 2010. In press. Reshaping Chemicals Policy on Two Sides of the Atlantic: The Promise of Improved Sustainability Through International Collaboration. In Transatlantic Regulatory Cooperation, Jo Swinnen, Editor. Edward Elgar Publications, United Kingdom.
Schwarzman M, Wilson M. 2009. New Science for Chemicals Policy. Science 326. 1065-1066. 20 Nov. [pdf]
Demou E, Hellweg S, Wilson M, Hammond SK, and McKone. 2009. T Evaluating Indoor Exposure Modeling Alternatives for LCA: A Case Study in the Vehicle Repair Industry. Environ. Sci. Technol. 43. 5804–5810 [pdf]
Hughes J, Legrande D, Zimmerman J, Wilson M, Beard S. 2009. Green Chemistry and Workers. New Solutions 19(2) 239-253. [pdf]
Wilson M and Schwarzman M. 2009. Toward a New U.S. Chemicals Policy: Rebuilding the Foundation to Advance New Science, Green Chemistry, and Environmental Health. Env Health Persp 177(8) 1202-1209. [pdf]
Wilson M and Kirschner M. 2008. Policy Developments in the United States Related to Chemicals and Electronic Waste. In Governance, Risk and Compliance Handbook: Technology, Finance, Environmental, and International Guidance and Best Practices, Anthony Tarantino, Ed. ISBN: 978-0-470-09589-8, Wiley & Sons. [link]
Wilson M, Madison H. 2008. Protecting Workers in Industrial Confined Spaces. Report to the Los Angeles District Attorney and the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board. Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. [pdf]
Wilson M, Schwarzman M, Malloy T, Fanning E, Sinsheimer P. 2008. Green Chemistry: Cornerstone to a Sustainable California. Special Report to the California Environmental Protection Agency. University of California Centers for Occupational and Environmental Health. [pdf]
Wilson M, Hammond SK, Hubbard A, Nicas M. 2007. Worker exposure to volatile organic compounds in the vehicle repair industry. J Occ and Env Hyg. May(4) 301-310 [pdf]
Wilson M, Chia C, Ehlers B. 2006. Executive Summary: Green Chemistry in California: A Framework for Chemicals Policy and Innovation. New Solutions16(4) [pdf]
Wilson M. 2006. Testimony before the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Congressional Quarterly , August 2 [pdf]
Wilson M, Chia C, Ehlers B. 2006. Green Chemistry in California: A Framework for Leadership in Chemicals Policy and Innovation. Special Report to the California Senate Environmental Quality Committee and Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials. University of California, California Policy Research Center. [pdf]
Awards, Honors, Recognition
Named one of 45 Most Distinguished Alumni, 1965-2010 Office of the Chancellor, UC Santa Cruz 2010
Environmental Leadership Award Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation 2010
Helen Clark Memorial Award in Occ and Env Health Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition 2009
Environmental Leadership Award Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation 2009
Environmental Sciences Fellowship Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation 2003
Robert Legge Memorial Award American Industrial Hygiene Association, NCS 2002
James Keogh Memorial Award American Public Health Association 2000
Bernard D. Tebbens Memorial Award American Industrial Hygiene Association, NCS 1998
Industrial Toxicology Award Environmental Health Sciences, UC Berkeley 1997
Industrial Occupational Safety Scholarship Semiconductor Industry Safety Association 1997
Industrial Occupational Safety Scholarship National Safety Council 1997
Distinguished Union Service Award International Association of Firefighters Local 1270 1996
Harvard University Trade Union Program Scholarship International Association of Firefighters 1995
Honorable Discharge U.S. Coast Guard 1986