Celeste Monforton

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Bio

Protecting worker safety is not only a professional commitment for Dr. Monforton, it is a personal passion. And she has turned that passion into action, scouring the fine print in public records to discover that U.S. Labor Department officials were preparing to gut longstanding worker protections, and meeting surreptitiously with miners to learn how company officials concealed asbestos and other hazards when federal inspectors were coming.

Dr. Monforton remains an advocate and a troubleshooter, working both within and outside the system. She entered graduate school after more than a decade of government service in the Labor Department, initially as a legislative analyst at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and then at the Mine Safety and Health Administration, where she was policy advisor and chief of staff to the Assistant Secretary. Following the Sago Mine disaster of 2006, which killed 12 coal miners, she paused her doctoral research to assist the investigation launched by the West Virginia governor.

Dr. Monforton joined the Milken Institute School of Public Health in 2006. As an Assistant Research Professor, she won praise for showing her students environmental and occupational health in action, taking them to visit a sewage treatment plant, to don protective firefighting gear at a firehouse, and to remove plastics and styrofoam from the Potomac River. She is a regular contributor to the "Pump Handle," a blog known as "a water cooler for the public health crowd."

Dr. Monforton is currently living in Texas, continuing her work in occupational health and maintaining her ties to GW by serving as a professorial lecturer.

Expertise

Education:

Bachelor of Arts (Liberal studies), University of Michigan, 1990

Master of Public Health (Environmental and Occupational Health), School of Public Health and Health Services, George Washington University, 2004

Doctor of Public Health, School of Public Health and Health Services, George Washington University, 2008

Community Service:

Dr. Monforton is a volunteer activist with United Support and Memorial for Workplace Fatalities, an advocacy group for family members of workers killed on the job. The nonprofit organization seeks to build a strong activist voice for reforms to prevent work-related injuries, illnesses and fatalities. She also chairs the Occupational Health and Safety Section of the American Public Health Association.

Research

Research:

Dr. Monforton's research interests focus on occupational injury and illness epidemiology, prevention strategies, regulatory policies and the precautionary use of evidence to reduce population risk to environmental hazards.

Publications

Publications:

Exposure science will not increase protection of workers from asbestos-caused diseases: NIOSH fails to provide needed public health action and leadership Lemen RA, Anderson H, Bailar JC, Bingham E, Castleman B, Frank AL, Huff J, Ladou J, Melius J, Monforton C, Robbins A, Teitelbaum DT, Welch LS. Exposure science will not increase protection of workers from asbestos-caused diseases: NIOSH fails to provide needed public health action and leadership. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2011 Jan;21(1):114-5.

Training Regulation on Injury Rates Among US Stone, Sand, and Gravel Mine Workers: An Interrupted Time-Series Analysis Monforton C, Windsor R. An Impact Evaluation of a Federal Mine Safety Training Regulation on Injury Rates Among US Stone, Sand, and Gravel Mine Workers: An Interrupted Time-Series Analysis. Am J Public Health. 2010 Jul;100(7):1334-40. Epub 2010 May 13.

Michaels and Monforton respond - Michaels D, Monforton C. Michaels and Monforton respond [letter]. Public Health Rep 2008; 123 (4):428-32. Beryllium's public relations problem: Protecting workers when there is no safe exposure level. Michaels D, Monforton C.

Beryllium's public relations problem: Protecting workers when there is no safe exposure level. Public Health Rep 2008 Jan-Feb;123:79-88.

Occupational safety and health standards. Bingham E, Monforton C. Occupational safety and health standards. In: Wallace RB, Kohatsu N, editors. Maxey-Rosenau-Last: Public Health & Preventive Medicine. 15th ed. New York: McGraw Hill; 2007. p. 841-845.

How litigation shapes the scientific literature: Asbestos and disease among automobile mechanics. Michaels D, Monforton C. How litigation shapes the scientific literature: Asbestos and disease among automobile mechanics. J Law & Policy 2007; 5(3):1137-1169.

Lung cancer mortality in the German chromate industry, 1958 to 1998. Michaels D, Monforton C, Lurie P. Lung cancer mortality in the German chromate industry, 1958 to 1998. J Occup Environ Med. 2006;48:995-7.

Selected science: an industry campaign to undermine an OSHA hexavalent chromium standard. Michaels D, Monforton C, Lurie P. Selected science: an industry campaign to undermine an OSHA hexavalent chromium standard. Environ Health 2006; 5:5.

The beryllium occupational exposure limit: historical origin and current inadequacy. Michaels D, Monforton C. The beryllium occupational exposure limit: historical origin and current inadequacy. J Occup Environ Med. 2006;48:998-1000-1.

Bush's disturbing nomination. Monforton C. Bush's disturbing nomination. Louisville Courier-Journal 2006 Aug 24; Sect. A:9

Weight-of-the-evidence or wait for the evidence?: Protecting underground miners from diesel particulate matter. Monforton C. Weight-of-the-evidence or wait for the evidence?: Protecting underground miners from diesel particulate matter. Am J Public Health 2006;96 (2):271-6.

Celeste

Monforton, DrPH, MPH

Professorial Lecturer

Celeste Monforton

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