Dr. Richard Jackson, MD, MPH, is professor emeritus in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. He has served in many leadership positions, including as the head of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) in the role of State Public Health Officer from 2004-05. He was the founder of the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, now at CalEPA, and for three years he led CDPH’s Infectious Disease Division.
Early in his career, Jackson served as an officer in the Epidemic Intelligence Service at CDC, and later served for nine years as Director of the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health. The Center included emergency response, the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile, the environmental laboratories, and numerous other activities; he was the lead for these activities on September 11, 2001.
A UCSF trained physician, pediatrician, and epidemiologist, he received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for his work at CDC. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
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