2023 Hudson Fellows in Public Health Symposium to Focus on Climate Change

OKLAHOMA CITY – Lynn R. Goldman, M.D., M.S., Ph.D., distinguished pediatrician and epidemiologist, will be the featured keynote speaker of the University of Oklahoma’s Hudson College of Public Health’s 2023 Hudson Fellows in Public Health Symposium. She will speak on “Climate Change: A Challenge for Public Health, Education, Research and Practice.”

The symposium is scheduled for noon Thursday, Oct. 12, in the Hudson College of Public Health Auditorium, on the OU Health Sciences campus.

Goldman is Michael and Lori Milken Dean and Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health in Washington, D.C. Her background includes serving as the assistant administrator for toxic substances at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where she played a pivotal role in overseeing the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.

Goldman is renowned for her expertise in pediatric environmental health and chemicals and pesticides policy. Her contributions to policy development are exemplified by her instrumental involvement in the passage of the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act, the 2016 Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act for the 21st Century and the establishment of California’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program.

Goldman’s career has included positions such as professor of environmental health sciences at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and chief of the Division of Environmental and Occupational Disease Control at the California Department of Public Health. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and has received numerous awards, including the NAM Walsh McDermott Award, the Heinz Award for Global Environmental Change and the Homer M. Calver Award from the American Public Health Association Environment Section.

The Hudson Fellows in Public Health Symposium focuses on innovative public health research and its practical application. This event was initiated in 2016, due to a $5 million endowment from Clifford and Leslie Hudson. The endowment supports annual stipends for eight full-time doctoral students dedicated to addressing pressing public health challenges.

Leslie Hudson earned a master’s degree in public health and a doctorate in epidemiology from the OU College of Public Health (now Hudson College of Public Health). She has made significant contributions to the College of Public Health as a faculty member specializing in biostatistics and epidemiology.

Clifford Hudson earned a bachelor’s degree in history from OU and a law degree from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. He served as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Sonic Corp., until his retirement in 2018. He is currently Of Counsel at Crowe and Dunlevy and the founder and director of DIA Equity Partners. He served as chairman of the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education from 2001 to 2008. In addition to his professional accomplishments, he published the book, Master of None, in 2020.

For more information about the 2023 Hudson Fellows in Public Health Symposium and the Hudson College of Public Health, visit publichealth.ouhsc.edu.