Staff

Dr. Bonnie S. Richter has been the Director of the Office of Illness and Injury Prevention Programs since 2004, having served in the Office since 1990. Dr. Richter is responsible for managing senior level staff that provides technical support in epidemiology, public health, industrial hygiene, and health physics to both federal and contractor programs. Dr. Richter's professional training is in occupational epidemiology, the assessment of adverse health effects associated with occupational exposures. She received her A.B. (biology) from Clark University, Worcester, MA, earned an M.P.H. from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and received a Ph.D. in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Hygiene and Public Health. Dr. Richter has vast experience in conducting various health studies among workers, as well as residents of communities potentially exposed to chemical or radionuclide wastes. She has taught epidemiologic methods to diverse audiences, from graduate students to community groups. Dr. Richter served on the President's Task Force on Environmental Health and Safety Risks to Children, the Federal Interagency Working Group on Women's Health and the Environment, and the National Children's Study Chemical Exposure Group. Prior to joining DOE, Dr. Richter worked for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Marsha Lawn is the program manager for Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) public health activities at DOE sites. As such, she has programmatic responsibility for the Worker and Public Health Activities Program with three HHS agencies: the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the National Center for Environmental Health, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Ms. Lawn is the DOE liaison to the Integrated Safety Management (ISM) Working Group-Occupational Safety and Health Subgroup of the Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG), which supports the site Occupational Medicine Directors and occupational medicine programs. She is also the liaison to the Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS), which provides occupational and emergency radiation medical services to the DOE complex. Ms. Lawn is a graduate of the USDA New Leader Program, and has training in public health, environmental and program management, and budget administration. She has been with DOE since 1987.

Clifton H. Strader, Ph.D., has been a member of the Office of Health since its establishment in 1990. He has done extensive work in the development of occupational health surveillance methods, managing the development of worker health surveillance as a contractor at the Hanford Site from 1986 to 1990. He currently manages the Department's Illness and Injury Surveillance Program, monitoring occupational illness and injury among more than 85,000 DOE contractor workers at 13 sites. Dr. Strader is responsible for the development of Illness and Injury Surveillance reports and has lectured on various health and safety issues to numerous audiences including DOE workers, site occupational medicine staff, line management, and organized labor. He provides technical support in the conduct of outbreak investigations and provides guidance and consultation in the Department's ongoing evaluation and redesign of approaches to integrate health, safety, and environment data analysis. He received his doctorate in epidemiology from the University of Washington, School of Public Health.

Paul F. Wambach, CIH, has been a member of the Office of Illness and Injury Prevention Programs since its formation in 2004 and has been an industrial hygienist in DOE headquarters offices since 1980. His work activities focus on conceptualizing and implementing programs and projects that gather, analyze, and disseminate information about occupational exposures and health outcomes among workers at DOE facilities. This information is used to establish priorities for DOE supported health research and for promulgating rules, directives, and technical standards on occupational health protection. One of Mr. Wambach's current projects is the Beryllium-Associated Worker Registry, which captures data created through the operation of site chronic beryllium disease (CBD) prevention programs. The routine collection and analysis of health and exposure data information helps the DOE in: managing its CBD prevention programs; identifying and offering screening to other workers who may be at risk for CBD; and identifying working conditions associated with beryllium sensitization and CBD that provide an opportunity for intervention and prevention of future cases. Mr. Wambach is also the DOE representative on the Interagency Working Group on Nanotechnology Environmental and Health Implications and is engaged in coordinating and supporting initiatives to address DOE nanotechnology risk management issues. Prior to coming to the DOE, Mr. Wambach was an industrial hygienist with the U.S. Department of the Army. He attended the University of Minnesota, received a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology and completed School of Public Health courses in environmental and occupational health. He is certified in the comprehensive practice of industrial hygiene.