Since his appointment in 1991 as the director of the National Institute
of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Toxicology Program
(NTP), Dr. Kenneth Olden has worked steadfastly to develop the field of environmental
health. As a result of his efforts during an almost 14-year tenure, the field
of environmental health has matured and expanded to become one of the most
comprehensive and humanly relevant disciplines in science. Because of Olden’s
vision, we no longer concern ourselves only with the toxicity of physical
agents--we now explore the effects of lifestyle, social and economic factors,
and the built environment on human health.
Dr. Olden’s policies emphasized the need to bring all interested
parties--government, industry, academia, and the lay public--into discourse
on complex and often controversial environmental health issues. For this
reason, Olden created innovative research and risk assessment centers within
the NIEHS and the NTP comprised of representatives from all the above-mentioned
sectors. Examples of the centers include the Interagency Center for the Evaluation
of Alternative Toxicological Methods and the Toxicogenomics Research Consortium.
He also expanded the network of NIEHS-funded Environmental Health Sciences
Centers that emphasize multidisciplinary research collaboration and coordination.
To ensure community involvement, he made it mandatory for each NIEHS-funded
center to have a Community Outreach and Education Program that was responsive
to local environmental health problems, particularly those of poor and minority
populations.
Olden worked particularly hard to bring the lay public into the often intimidating
and exclusive scientific process so that “regular citizens” could
have a voice in important public health decisions. He established the NIEHS
Public Interest Liaison Group, which allowed members of advocacy groups who
previously had little access to decision makers to provide input on research
directions and translation to disease prevention and treatment. In the late
1990s, Olden instituted a series of town meetings throughout the United States
so that he could hear firsthand environmental concerns from the public.
Many scientific advances have been achieved during Olden’s tenure.
But, as a true humanitarian, his greater goal was to ensure that these advances
were rapidly translated into real improvements in human health through both
clinical practice and public health policy. In 1992 Olden took a critical
step toward facilitating translation of research findings into applications
by converting the institute’s journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP)
into a monthly publication and expanding its scope to include environmental
news coverage. Other steps toward achieving the goal of translation included
the launching of the Environmental Justice Grants Program and the Community-Based
Prevention/Intervention Research Program.
Although there is no doubt that Olden has been the driving force behind
many of the advances in the field of environmental health, he fully recognizes
that these achievements could not have been made without the support of the
staff of the NIEHS and the larger environmental health community. One of
his strengths has been to identify and bring into the NIEHS community the
most gifted scientists and strongest leaders. In particular, he credits his
deputy director, Dr. Samuel Wilson, with playing a major role in the expansion
of environmental health through his counsel and support on many major initiatives,
most recently and perhaps most profoundly, the development of the environmental
genome project and the field of toxicogenomics.
Chronicling Olden’s accomplishments provides more than a simple recognition
of one man’s contributions. Because these contributions are inextricably
intertwined with the development of the field of environmental health, a
look back allows us to see in broad brush the evolution of both an individual
career and a discipline. Most important, such a retrospective can help provoke
us to consider where the field is going next. The essays herein were invited
of people who played vital roles in the evolution of environmental
health and who can bear witness to Dr. Olden’s impact. It is hoped
that the personal thoughts and opinions expressed in these essays will go
beyond recollections to spur deliberations on the future of environmental
health. We could think of no more fitting tribute to a man so vital to its
past.
On behalf of the environmental health community, I wish to express my sincere
gratitude to Dr. Kenneth Olden for his enduring vision, strong leadership,
and abiding humanity.
Thomas J. Goehl
Editor-in-Chief
Environmental Health Perspectives