The International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Steven Markowitz, MD, DrPH, as the Union’s Chief Medical Advisor.
Markowitz, a physician specializing in occupational and environmental medicine, received his B.A from Yale University and MD and DrPH in epidemiology from Columbia University. Dr. Markowitz directs the Barry Commoner Center for Health and the Environment (BCCHE) and is a professor of environmental sciences at Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY).
He has conducted research in the areas of asbestos-related diseases, occupational cancer, World Trade Center health, immigrant occupational health and surveillance of occupational injuries and illnesses. During his career he has published more than 100 journal articles and book chapters.
Dr. Markowitz has continued the work started by Dr. Irving Selikoff in documenting asbestos-related mortality among North American Insulators. He directed a national lung cancer and general medical screening program for U.S. Department of Energy nuclear weapons workers. In collaboration with the United Steelworkers
over the last 20 years, he has used low-dose CT scanning to screen more than 13,000 workers.
For 12 years, Dr. Markowitz served as Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine (AJIM) and was the Associate Editor of a major textbook, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, 4th Edition.
Dr. Markowitz currently serves as Chair of the Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health for the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program of the U.S. Department of Labor. He has served on Federal EPA, NIOSH, NTP and DOL committees, and currently serves as an Advisory Board Member of the
Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), an organization the HFIAW supports.
The Insulators Union has been working with Dr. Markowitz for many years and appreciates his expertise on issues that matter to our industry and our members.
In his new role as Chief Medical Advisor, he will quickly become a union-wide asset for our members, who need assistance and physicians who can treat our members for asbestos-related diseases.
“We appreciate the medical advisor capacity that Dr. Markowitz has offered to our Union and Brothers and Sisters in the past, and look forward to his continued contribution to our Union now and into the future,” said General President Gregory T. Revard.