Archive 2005 2006 2007 2008

The members of the Editorial Board of the WELLNESS LETTER come from the faculty of the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley.

CHAIR: John Edward Swartzberg, M.D., F.A.C.P.
Clinical Professor of Health and Medical Science

An internist with 26 years of clinical experience and a specialist in infectious disease, Dr. Swartzberg is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco and Associate Director of the UC Berkeley Health and Medical Sciences program. He collaborated with Dr. Sheldon Margen on the highly successful Wellness Self-Care Handbook in 1998 and the
Complete Home Wellness Handbook in 2001. He is the director of the UCB-UCSF Joint Medical Program in the Division of Health and Medical Sciences at Berkeley's School of Public Health, and serves as Hospital Epidemiologist and Director of Infection Control at a major hospital in the Bay Area.

ASSOCIATE CHAIR: Joyce C. Lashof, M.D.
Professor Emerita of Public Health

Prior to her retirement, Dr. Lashof served as Dean and Professor of Public Health at the School of Public Health. Her career has combined government service and academic medicine. She has served as the Director of the Department of Public Health for the State of Illinois, as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Programs and Population Affairs, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and as Assistant Director of the Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress. She has held faculty appointments at the University of Chicago, University of Illinois and Rush Medical College. Dr. Lashof is a member of the Institute of Medicine and past President of the American Public Health Association. From 1995 to 1997 she served as Chair of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veteran's Illnesses.

Lily Chaput, M.D., M.P.H.
UCSF Clinical Research Fellow

Dr. Chaput entered the UC Berkeley/UC San Francisco Preventive Medicine Residency Program in 1997. Currently, she is a UC San Francisco Clinical Research Fellow. Her research projects include topics related to the prevention of cardiovascular disease in women. She received her medical degree from Northwestern University in 1991 and her residency training in Internal Medicine from the UC Davis Medical Center. She received a Masters in Public Health from UC Berkeley in 1998.

Lois Swirsky Gold, Ph.D.
Director, Carcinogenic Potency Project

Dr. Gold is currently a Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley. She retired after 25 years at UCB and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She has published more than 100 papers and two books about animal cancer tests, cancer risk assessment, and the implications for cancer prevention and regulatory policy. Her most recent book is Misconceptions about the Causes of Cancer. Dr. Gold has served on the Panel of Expert Reviewers for the National Toxicology Program, the Board of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, and is currently on the CDC Board of Scientific Counselors. Her website of the Carcinogenic Potency Project is an international resource of analyses of animal cancer tests. Currently, Dr. Gold is working on Risk Communication at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI).

Ronald M. Krauss, M.D.
Adjunct Professor of Nutritional Sciences

Dr. Krauss is Senior Scientist and Director of Atherosclerosis Research at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute and Guest Senior Scientist in the Genome Sciences Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is board-certified in internal medicine, endocrinology, and metabolism. His research involves studies of genetic, dietary, and pharmacologic effects on coronary artery disease risk. He has been a Senior Advisor to the National Cholesterol Education Program, and is actively involved with the American Heart Association (AHA), having served as Chairman of the Nutrition Committee. He has published more than 300 research articles and reviews and is currently Principal Investigator of two large research programs: "Institute for Genetics and Nutrition" and "Pharmacogenetics and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease".

William A. Pereira, M.D., M.P.H.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Dr. Pereira completed a Preventive Medicine residency at the University of California, Berkeley, is board certified in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and is a Fellow of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.  He has extensive clinical experience in occupational, preventive, physical, and emergency medicine, and special interests in disaster preparedness, travel medicine, and performing arts medicine.  He has been a member of the Editorial Board since 1994.

James P. Seward, M.D., M.P.P., M.M.M.
Associate Clinical Professor of Public Health

Dr. Seward is Co-Director of the UCSF-UCB Joint Residency in Preventive Medicine and Medical Director for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, as well as a Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCSF and Clinical Professor of Public Health at UC Berkeley. He also teaches Occupational Medicine and Preventive Medicine at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and serves as Chair of the UCSF Occupational Medicine Residency Advisory Committee. He is the Occupational Medicine Regent for the American College of Preventive Medicine and President of the Western Occupational and Environmental Medical Association.

Stephen M. Shortell, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Dean, School of Public Health

Dr. Shortell is the Blue Cross of California Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and Management and Professor of Organization Behavior at the School of Public Health and Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. A leading health care scholar, he has received many awards, including the Baxter-Allegiance Prize for his contributions to health services research, and serves on numerous boards and advisory groups. He is currently conducting research on the evaluation of quality improvement initiatives and on the implementation of evidence-based medicine practices in physician organizations.

Kirk R. Smith, Ph.D.
Professor of Environmental Health Sciences

Dr. Smith is Associate Director for International Programs at the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health of UC Berkeley, Davis, and San Francisco. He is also Chair of UCB Division of Environmental Health Sciences and Director of the Program in Health, Environment, and Development, as well as Director of the WHO Collaborating Center on Studies of Environmental Risk and Development. Since 1985, he has served as Senior Fellow at the Program on Environment, East-West Center (EWC), Honolulu. Dr. Smith conducts research on the environmental and health effects of air pollution, both indoor and outdoor.

Craig Steinmaus, M.D., M.P.H.
Associate Adjunct Professor of Public Health

Dr. Steinmaus is also an Assistant Adjunct Professor in the School of Medicine in the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at UCSF. He has seven years of experience as a practicing physician in occupational and environmental medicine, and has been the research director for several large investigations of lung and bladder cancer. His current research interests include the study of diet and cancer causation, drinking water contamination and cancer, and physical fitness and health.

S. Leonard Syme, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, Epidemiology

For most of his 30 years at UC Berkeley, Dr. Syme has done research on risk factors for heart disease, with a major focus on psychosocial risk factors such as job stress, social support, and poverty. In doing this research, he has studied San Francisco bus drivers; Japanese people living Hawaii, California, and Japan; British civil servants; and people living in Alameda County. Since his retirement in 1993, Dr. Syme has devoted most of his time to the development of interventions to prevent disease and promote health. He currently is the Director of the Wellness Guide Project, which attempts to provide useful information for the maintenance of health.