David Michaels (epidemiologist)

David Michaels is an epidemiologist with extensive experience in research, regulatory policy and public policy. He is Research Professor and Associate Chairman in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health (EOH) at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. Dr. Michaels is the author of Doubt is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health (Oxford University Press, 2008). He has also written articles for Science, JAMA, Scientific American, the International Journal of Epidemiology, the American Journal of Public Health and numerous other scientific publications.

Dr. Michaels served as the Department of Energy's Assistant Secretary for Environment, Safety and Health from 1998 through January 2001. In this position, he had primary responsibility for protecting the health and safety of workers, the neighboring communities and the environment surrounding the nation's nuclear weapons facilities. Dr. Michaels developed an initiative to compensate workers in the nuclear weapons complex who developed cancer or lung disease as a result of exposure to radiation, beryllium and other hazards.

In February 2006, Dr. Michaels received the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award. He has also received the American Public Health Association's David P. Rall Award for Advocacy in Public Health, and the US Department of Energy's Meritorious Service Award.