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Genetic Susceptibility to Lung Cancer
David Christiani, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.,
Professor of Occupational Medicine and Epidemiology, Harvard School of
Public Health, and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Summary: The aim of the presentation is to present current research
on genetic modification of cancer risk from environmental exposures, using
tobacco-associated lung cancer as the model.
Biography: For the past decade, David Christiani has led efforts
in the development and application of biomarkers, performed population
studies of acute and chronic diseases, including lung, bladder, and skin
cancers, and investigated, from an environmental- and occupational-health
perspective, tumors of the central nervous system, obstructive airway
diseases, pneumoconioses, and acute lung injury. He has conducted a range
of epidemiological studies internationally on environmental- and occupational-health
hazards and has published numerous articles based on his research. In
addition to his faculty positions at Harvard School of Public Health and
Harvard Medical School, Dr. Christiani is a practicing physician in the
Pulmonary and Critical Care Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital.
A Perspective on Stratospheric Ozone Depletion
Mario Molina, Ph.D.,
Institute Professor, M.I.T.,
1995 Recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Summary: Observations over the past decade of severe
ozone depletion in the stratosphere over Antarctica have heightened interest
in global environmental change issues. The ozone layer shields the earth's
surface from damaging ultraviolet radiation from the sun. The release
of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) of industrial origin was predicted in 1974
to lead to the production of chlorine-free radicals in the stratosphere,
with the consequent catalytic destruction of ozone. Laboratory and field
measurements have clearly established that ozone depletion at high latitudes
is indeed caused by CFCs. The international agreement the Montreal Protocol
led to the almost complete phase-out of these compounds in industrialized
countries by the end of 1995.
Biography: Mario Molina was born in Mexico City,
Mexico, in 1943. He holds a chemical engineering degree (1965) from the
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, a postgraduate degree (1967)
from the University of Freiburg, West Germany, and a Ph.D. degree in physical
chemistry (1972) from the University of California, Berkeley. He came
to the Massachusetts of Technology in 1989 with a joint appointment in
the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences and the Department
of Chemistry and was named Institute Professor in 1997. Prior to joining
M.I.T., he held teaching and research positions at the Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de México, the University of California, Irvine. and the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.
Professor Molina has been involved in developing our scientific
understanding of the chemistry of the stratospheric ozone layer and its
susceptibility to human-caused perturbations. He was a co-author, with
F. S. Rowland, of the 1974 publication in the British journal Nature of
their research on the threat to the ozone layer from chlorofluorocarbon
(CFC) gases that were being used as propellants in spray cans, as refrigerants,
as solvents, etc. Professor Molina and his colleagues subsequently demonstrated
in the laboratory a previously unknown chemical reaction whereby chlorine
is activated on the surface of ice cloud particles in the polar stratosphere.
The investigators also proposed and demonstrated experimentally a new
reaction sequence involving chlorine peroxide, which accounts for most
of the observed ozone destruction in the Antarctic stratosphere. More
recently, Professor Molina has been involved in studying the chemistry
of air pollution in the lower atmosphere. He is also pursuing interdisciplinary
work on tropospheric pollution issues, working with colleagues from many
other disciplines on the problem of rapidly growing cities with severe
air pollution problems.
Professor Molina has served on the President's Committee
of Advisors in Science and Technology (1994-2000) and has been part of
many other advisory boards and panels. He is also Chair of the National
Research Council/National Academy of Sciences Committee on Atmospheric
Chemistry. Professor Molina is a member of the National Academy of Sciences
and the Institute of Medicine, as well as of the Pontifical Academy of
Sciences. He has received numerous awards for his scientific work, including
the Tyler Ecology and Energy Prize in 1983, the United Nations Environment
Programme-Sasakawa Award in 1999, and the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry,
which he shared with Professors F. S. Rowland and P. Crutzen for their
work on atmospheric chemistry.
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