Gerald Fink, PhD President American Association for the Advancement of Science

Transcription

1 Correspondence to: Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH December 14, 2015 VIA TO: Rush Holt, PhD Chief Executive Officer American Association for the Advancement of Science Gerald Fink, PhD President American Association for the Advancement of Science Phillip A. Sharp, PhD Chairman of the Board of Directors Dear Drs. Holt, Fink and Sharp: We are writing to express our grave concern on the selection of Patrick Harran, PhD of the University of California, Los Angeles, as an AAAS fellow. Dr. Harran has four criminal felony charges pending against him for willfully violating workplace safety standards at his UCLA laboratory. Those charges were brought by the Los Angeles County District Attorney following a criminal investigation into the work-related death of Sheri Sangji, 23. We do not think Dr. Harran is deserving of recognition as a fellow in your organization. In October 2008, Ms. Sangji was a research assistant who worked in Dr. Harran s lab. She had only been on the job a few months, and in December 2008 she was assigned to use tertbutyllithium (tbuli). She had not been trained to use the highly reactive liquid nor had she been provided proper equipment to do so. Ms. Sangji was severely injured by a flash fire when the compound was exposed to air and ignited spontaneously. Ms. Sangji suffered intense medical treatment for third-degree burns over almost half of her body. She succumbed to her injuries in January The District Attorney s investigation, as well as that of the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration, found that Dr. Harran had been warned of serious safety deficiencies in his laboratory. His careless practices put his staff and students at risk of grave harm. Dr. Harran failed to address the safety problems and Ms. Sangji lost her life as a result.

2 As a premiere scientific organization, AAAAS has an obligation to renounce individuals who disregard the health and safety of their staff, students and the public. Dr. Harran s willful violation of laboratory safety standards makes him unqualified to be a member of AAAS. The felony charges against him will remain in effect until Should he violate the terms of his agreement with Los Angeles County district attorney, his case will proceed to a trial. We ask you to withdraw his fellowship and establish nomination criteria to avert a similar error in the future. Sincerely, *The list of signatories is incomplete. We thought it important for you to receive this letter as soon as possible. We will continue to collect signatures on it. [Affiliations for Identification Only] James Albers, MPH, CIH Retired, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC/NIOSH) Mark R. Anderson, MS Doctoral Candidate Department of Geophysical Sciences University of Chicago Fran Ansley Distinguished Professor of Law Emerita University of Tennessee College of Law Knoxville, TN Bill Borwegen MPH Principal, Prevention at Work, LLC SEIU National Occupational Health & Safety Director ( ) Garrett D. Brown, MPH, CIH 20-year veteran of Cal/OSHA as field compliance officer and Special Assistant to the Chief Lisa M Brosseau, ScD, CIH Professor University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences

3 Mark Catlin Health and Safety Director Service Employees International Union Arthur L. Frank MD, PhD Professor of Public Health and Medicine Drexel University Philadelphia,PA Steven Hecker, MSPH Associate Professor Emeritus University of Oregon Jay Herzmark SafeWork Washington Todd Jailer Managing Editor Hesperian Health Guides Rachael M Jones, PhD Assistant professor School of Public Health University of Illinois at Chicago Sherryl Kleinman, PhD Professor of Sociology Univ. of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC Paul Landsbergis, PhD, MPH Associate Professor SUNY-Downstate School of Public Health Brooklyn, NY Anika Larson University of Washington David LeGrande, MS, RN Communication Workers of America

4 Amy K.Liebman, MPA, MA Salisbury, MD Jane Lipscomb, PhD, RN, FAAN Professor University of Maryland Schools of Nursing and Medicine Martha Livingston, PhD Professor and Chair, Public Health SUNY Old Westbury Old Westbury, NY Jessica Martinez, MPH Acting Executive Director National Council for Occupational Safety and Health Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH Professorial Lecturer Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Milken Institute School of Public Health George Washington University Washington DC John S. Morawetz, ScM International Chemical Workers Union Council Karen B. Mulloy, DO, MSCH Associate Professor Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine & Chair, Occupational Health and Safety Section, American Public Health Association Dan Neal Wyoming Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health Quynh Nguyen College of Health University of Utah

5 Rory O'Neill Editor, Hazards magazine Professor, Occupational and Environmental Health Research Group University of Stirling, Scotland Karen Pomerantz Metropolitan Washington Public Health Association Richard Rabin, MSPH MassCOSH Boston, MA Jean Rabovsky, PhD, Retired Barbara Rahke Director PhilaPOSH Philadelphia, PA Kimberly Rauscher, MA, ScD Assistant Professor Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences Assistant Director for Research, Injury Control Research Center West Virginia University Morgantown, WV Linda Reinstein President/CEO & Co-Founder Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization Milly Rodriguez, MPH Occupational Health & Safety Specialist American Federation of Government Employees Eleanor G. Rogan, PhD Interim Associate Dean of Research Chair, Department of Environmental, Agricultural and Occupational Health College of Public Health University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha, NE

6 Harriet Rubenstein Health Professionals & Allied Employees, AFT, AFL-CIO Rachel Rubin, MD, MPH, FACP University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health and Cook County Department of Public Health Frances C. Schreiberg Of Counsel + Pro Bono Attorney Kazan McClain Satterley & Greenwood, A Professional Law Corporation Oakland, CA Mark Schulz, PhD Associate Professor University of North Carolina-Greensboro Jeanne Sears, PhD, RN Research Associate Professor Department of Health Services University of Washington Seattle, WA & Associate Faculty Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center Laura Syron, MPH Graduate Research Assistant School of Biological and Population Health Sciences College of Public Health and Human Sciences Oregon State University Ariel J. Thomann, MD Retired Houston, TX University Professional & Technical Employees Communication Workers of America, Local 9119 (in which Ms. Sheri Sangji was a member)

7 Lynn Unruh, PhD, RN Professor, Health Management and Informatics College of Health and Public Affairs University of Central Florida Orlando, FL David Wegman, MD, MSc Emeritus Professor of Work Environment University of Massachusetts-Lowell Lowell, MA Dorothy Wigmore, MS Director, Outreach and Education Occupational Health Clinical Center Syracuse, NY, USA Bill Wiist, DHSc, MPH, MS Professor & Senior Scientist (Ret.), Northern Arizona University & Courtesy Faculty, International Health College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State University Ariel Young George Washington University, Class of 2014