[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 152 (Friday, September 20, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1188]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING DR. LINDA BIRNBAUM, CHAMPION OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH

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                          HON. DAVID E. PRICE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 20, 2019

  Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize 
Dr. Linda Birnbaum, Director of the National Institute of Environmental 
Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Toxicology Program (NTP), who 
is retiring in October. Dr. Birnbaum has served as director of NIEHS, 
located in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park, for the past 10 
years. She is the first woman and first board-certified toxicologist to 
serve in this position.
  Dr. Birnbaum always had a clear vision for the NIEHS/NTP, evidenced 
by her implementation of two strategic plans over the course of her 
tenure. Under her leadership, NIEHS has become a world leader in 
environmental health and toxicology research. For example, scientific 
studies, such as the annual Report on Carcinogens, which analyzes 
substances in our environment that may cause cancer, have ignited 
changes in health policy and safety standards in the U.S. and across 
the world. The creation of the Children's Health Exposure Analysis 
Resource, a grant program that established a network of exposure 
assessment laboratories across the country, paved the way for policy 
changes that protected the health of children. Dr. Birnbaum's team also 
established the NIEHS Clinical Research Unit, allowing the NIH to 
partner with top biomedical teams at our RTP Universities: Duke, 
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State.
  In the wake of environmental disasters, Dr. Birnbaum and her team led 
critical research projects following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil 
spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the 2014 West Virginia chemical spill. 
Dr. Birnbaum and her team worked in coordination with scientists across 
the NIH and with the residents of affected areas, recruiting over 
33,000 participants for the Deepwater Horizon study.
  Dr. Birnbaum has received numerous accolades for her outstanding 
achievements in the field of science. In 2010, she was elected to the 
Institute of Medicine, now known as the National Academy of Medicine. 
She also was awarded the North Carolina Award in Science in 2016, the 
state's highest civilian honor given by North Carolina's Governor. For 
her work in toxicology she was named the Distinguished Toxicology 
Scholar by the Society of Toxicology in 2018 and earned the Mildred S. 
Christian Career Achievement Award from the Academy of Toxicological 
Sciences.
  Dr. Birnbaum's work as a federal research scientist spans nearly 40 
years, including 19 years directing research at the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency. She also currently serves as an adjunct professor in 
the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and held a similar 
position in Toxicology and Environmental Health at Duke University. She 
has maintained her research program even while serving as NIEHS/NTP 
director, and at last count had over 700 published articles and reports 
to her credit. Fortunately, she plans to continue her laboratory 
research part-time.
  Madam Speaker, it has been my privilege to know and work with Dr. 
Birnbaum during much of her tenure at EPA and NIEHS. I was delighted to 
see her--an accomplished, practicing scientist--appointed to the 
directorship of NIEHS, and she has been a trusted source of advice on 
the Institute's needs and the state of the research enterprise. She has 
a passion for the NIEHS/NTP mission and has inspired a generation of 
scientists with her vision of what well-designed research can 
contribute to public health and environmental quality.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Dr. Linda Birnbaum 
as she reaches this milestone. We thank her for her years of dedicated 
service and the contributions she has made toward the health and well-
being of millions of people.

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