Abstract
Dr. Joseph V. Rodricks is a Principal of ENVIRON International, a technical consulting firm, and a Visiting Professor at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. ENVIRON was founded in 1982 by Dr. Rodricks and four associates, and now has more than 900 employees in 13 countries. Dr. Rodricks came to consulting after a 15-year career as a scientist at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He entered the Agency’s Bureau of Science after receiving degrees in chemistry (MIT) and biochemistry (University of Maryland). He spent 7 years as a laboratory scientist investigating the chemistry, metabolism, and toxicology of aflatoxins and other natural toxins; during this same period he undertook a year of postdoctoral work at Berkeley, where he pursued studies of paralytic shellfish poison. The remainder of his FDA career was devoted to the development and application of quantitative risk assessment methods, and his professional life has continued to center on these subjects. He was the FDA’s Deputy Associate Commissioner for Health Affairs from 1977 until he resigned in 1980. During these last 4 years at the agency he was heavily involved in the formation of the National Toxicology Program, and in a host of other interagency efforts, including the development of the first federal guidelines for the conduct of risk assessment.
He has provided consulting services for manufacturers, government agencies, and the World Health Organization. His experience extends from pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and foods, to occupational chemicals and environmental contaminants. He currently serves on the National Academy of Sciences–National Research Council Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, and has served on 24 Committees of the NRC and the IOM, including the Committee that produced the seminal work Risk Assessment in the Federal Government (1983).
Dr. Rodricks has received distinguished service awards from the Society for Risk Analysis and from the Food and Drug Law Institute. In 2003 he was awarded a lifetime appointment as a National Associate of the National Academy of Sciences. His best-selling book, Calculated Risks, published by Cambridge University Press and recently released in a fully revised second edition, was given an award from the American Medical Writer’s Association.