Dr. Devra Lee Davis, MPH will be the featured speaker at the May 16-18 Annual Conference of the PA Environmental Professionals Association in State College.

Dr. Davis directs the world’s first Center on Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.

Dr. Davis’s topic will be "Tales of Environmental Deception and the Battle Against Pollution.” She will highlight Rachel Carson’s work to educate the public on the control of toxic chemicals, and attempts to discredit Carson. Her presentation will include archival film clips of Rachel Carson.

Dr. Davis was a National Book Award Finalist for her work When Smoke Ran Like Water (2002, Basic Books) - a book centered on her hometown of Donora, PA in which more than 20 residents died from inhaling toxic fumes over the course of four days in October 1948.

The Center on Environmental Oncology is a multidisciplinary center that includes experts in medicine, basic research, engineering and public policy who work to develop cutting-edge studies to identify the causes of cancer and propose policies to reduce the risks of the disease.

Honored for her research and public policy work by various national and international groups, Dr. Davis is also a Professor at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology, Visiting Professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz School, Honorary Professor, London’s School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Expert Advisor to the World Health Organization.

For more information, visit the PAEP Annual Conference webpage.

1/12/2007