Advancing Global Health and Sustainability: Green Chemistry

Evidence is mounting about the long-term health and environmental effects of chemical pollutants, and global chemical production is doubling every 24 years. Groundbreaking policy initiatives in the European Union and California, however, are beginning to change the forces that drive the design, use, and disposal of tens of thousands of industrial chemicals in commercial use. The new Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry is at the forefront of these developments. As a collaboration of the College of Chemistry, School of Public Health, College of Natural Resources, College of Engineering and Haas School of Business, the Center is the nation's first major academic effort to tackle the challenge of chemical pollution and exposures through an interdisciplinary lens. Meet one of its founders and hear how the Center is moving the science, policy, and legal debates forward.

Speaker: Michael P. Wilson is a research scientist (Wilson) at the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley (COEH) and Associate Director of Integrative Sciences for the newly formed Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry (BCGC). The BCGC is the nation?s first interdisciplinary program to tackle the science, technology, policy, legal and economic aspects of chemical pollution and exposures. It includes the Berkeley Colleges and Schools of chemistry, public health, natural resources, law, and business. Dr. Wilson spearheaded the formation of the BCGC, beginning in 2004. Dr. Wilson earned a Master of Public Health (1998) and PhD (2203) in Environmental Health Sciences from UC Berkeley.