Summary of Academic Career

Tee L. Guidotti

I remain active as a lecturer, investigator (through research collaborations at present), but mostly as a practitioner in occupational and environmental medicine and public health. My vehicle for doing this is my sole-proprietorship consultancy, Occupational + Environmental Health & Medicine. The following summary of my academic career which preceded this is in reverse chronological order, because most readers will be interested in more recent activities.

I retired from academia after a successful career or three decades. Most of my academic career was spent at the University of Alberta (Canada). My last academic affiliation, with the George Washington University, ended on 30 June 2009, when my yearlong research faculty appointment to wind down my duties and projects came to an end. I thank GW for its cooperation in accommodating me for early retirement at every step along the way. I have remained active as an academic throught my Fulbright research chair at the University of Ottawa and adjunct appointments at the University of Alberta and West Virginia University, where I frequently teach and mentor trainees, both in person and by videoconference.

Until 30 June 2008, I was Professor and Chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health in the School of Public Health and Health Services at GW and Director of the Division of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology in the Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Health Sciences. I also served as Director of the Center for Risk Science and Public Health. In this triple capacity, I presided over an expansion of academic and professional services consolidated around the themes of occupational health and injury prevention, environmental health and risk assessment, human health implications of ecosystem disturbance, and evidence-based medical dispute resolution. During this period I was also cross-appointed as a full professor in Epidemiology and in Pulmonary Medicine. 2008 – 2009 was a transition year in which I had a research faculty appointment to allow me to complete teaching, research, and administrative duties prior to official retirement from the University.

As is typical of senior faculty, I also held various non-administrative academic governance positions within the George Washington University. I was a “senator” (a departmental representative to the Medical Faculty Senate (our faculty governance mechanism) and chaired both the Committee of Chairs (a council within the Medical Center) and the Senate Committee on Research, which participates in setting Research Policy and deciding competitive awards. I was a member of numerous committees, including the Leadership Committee for the School of Public Health and Health Services and the Executive Committee for the George Washington University Medical Center, and has served at various levels in Appointments, Promotions and Tenure committees (medical center, school) and on numerous search committees, including searches at the levels of dean, chair and regular faculty.

In addition to these university-based positions at GW, I continued to play a role in my field in Alberta and Canadian affairs. (See next paragraph.) I served as co-Chair of the Science Advisory Panel for the Western Interprovincial Scientific Studies Association, a Canadian research agency mandated with the responsibility for managing a Can$15 million, 7-year study of the effects of downwind emissions from oil and gas facilities. In this capacity, I was the lead science advisor to the Board and management of WISSA, worked with the staff management on problem solving and definition of scientific questions as the study evolved, served as liaison to the stakeholders and financial sponsors of the study on issues of science and study progress, led the initial effort on study design, acted as a spokesperson for WISSA during the “roll out” in 2007 and media release of findings of the study to the public, managed inquiries following the roll-out, and arranged for the publication of a dozen of the papers that came out of the work and oversaw preparation of the comprehensive final reports (in four versions). Thus, my involvement in Canadian occupational and environmental medicine and in Alberta specifically continued long after I moved to Washington DC and continues to this day.

From 1984 to 1998, I was Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton. There I served as Director of the Occupational Health Program, director of the residency in occupational medicine, acting chair of the department, academic chair for occupational medicine for the medical staff of Capital Health Authority, medical director of occupational health for the affiliated hospital, and in other capacities in academic administration. I also created and directed specialized center for research in occupational health (The Northern Centre for Health, Work, and Environment). For many years after I left UA, I continued to hold an adjunct appointment on the faculty.

One of the singular achievements of the Occupational Health Program was to establish the first Royal College-approved fellowship training program in occupational medicine. Graduates of this program during these years have gone on to play a major role in advancing the field in Canada, the US, and the Middle East.

My time at UA was similarly filled with academic responsibilities (details on request). I held a cross-appointment in Pulmonary Medicine and worked closely with numerous cross-campus organizations (such as the Environmental Studies and Research Institute) and participated in local and national “networks of centres of excellence” (collaborative research networks, in particular the Tricouncil Research Chair in Eco-Risk Management and the Network of Centres of Excellence of Sustainable Forest Management, which had a health component I led).

From 1981 to 1984, I was appointed as professor of public health and engaged in starting a department of environmental and occupational health at the new Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University. I served as the founding head of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Health. In that capacity I was involved in governance of the school, departmental program development, faculty recruitment, Senate activities, curriculum development, and either doing or supervising development of all courses in two master’s level tracks. At the same time, and necessarily for program development, I held a clinical appointment at a school of medicine and an administrative and clinical appointment with a large area multispecialty group medical practice.

During this period I also held an adjunct appointment at the University of California at San Diego in the Department of Community Medicine. I was active in teaching and at several UCSD committees and activities at the time.

I have also held leadership positions related to education, research and academic development in organizations representing my field, including Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society (Past President); the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (Past President); the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics (Past President). I also served for many years as chair of the Committee on Education of the American College of Preventive Medicine, which was a major commitment at the time.

I am the author of full-length textbooks in occupational and environmental medicine, occupational health, environmental health (coauthor), and health and sustainability.