The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) has announced the 2008 recipient of the Henry F. Smyth Jr. Award. Katharine Hammond, PhD, CIH, will be recognized at the 2008 Professional Conference on Industrial Hygiene (PCIH) being held November 8–11.

“It is a great honor to present this award to Dr. Hammond on behalf of the Academy,” said Brad T. Garber, PhD, CIH, DABT, CSP, Academy president. “Her dedication to promoting the industrial hygiene profession through her research and many achievements has earned great respect from her peers.”

Hammond, professor and chair of the Environmental Health Sciences Division at the University of California at Berkeley, has been from the start of her career actively involved in industrial hygiene, according to an AIHA press release.

“Industrial hygiene is as relevant as ever in the 21st century. New products and processes such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, and alternative fuels require the basic industrial hygiene skills of recognition, evaluation, and control be adapted with the concomitant development of new techniques,” said Hammond. “As we strive to address these emerging needs, we must never forget that those workers who maintain our bridges, repair our cars, and clean our homes need our protection; our challenge here is meeting the needs of independent workers and small employers.”

Hammond served as chair of the AIHA Occupational Epidemiology Committee, the ACGIH Chemical Substances Threshold Limit Value Committee, the International Society of Exposure Analysis, and the Scientific Advisory Committee on Tobacco Product Regulation for World Health Organization (WHO). She currently serves as an International Advisory Board member for the Annals of Occupational Hygiene and serves on the Benzene and Cancer Study Scientific Advisory Panel for the National Cancer Institute, the Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants for the California EPA, the WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation, and the Committee on Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Acute Coronary Events with the Institute of Medicine.

Hammond is an AIHA Fellow, and her honors and awards include the Alice Hamilton Award for Excellence in Occupational Safety and Health from the National Institute for Occupational Science and Health, the AIHA Rachel Carson Award, and the Alfred W. Childs Distinguished Service Award from the University of California . In 2008, she received the Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor Award from Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute.

The Academy established the Henry F. Smyth Jr. Award in 1981 and presents it to an individual who has recognized the needs of the industrial hygiene profession and made major contributions, thereby contributing to the improvement of the public’s welfare. Henry F. Smyth Jr. was a dedicated teacher and productive researcher whose projects enhanced the profession.