BC Global Public Health Program Director receives Ramazzini Award

Landrigan’s earlier groundbreaking research demonstrated the harmful effects of lead exposure on children—even at low levels—leading to significant policy changes. His work was instrumental in providing the scientific evidence that led the United States Environmental Protection Agency to remove lead from gasoline and paint, which resulted in a 95 percent reduction in childhood lead poisoning in the United States and a remarkable increase in the national average IQ for children born since 1980.

“It is the honor of a lifetime to receive this magnificent award named in honor of Dr. Bernardino Ramazzini, the father of occupational and environmental medicine,” said Landrigan, a 1963 graduate of Boston College who joined its faculty in 2018. “It recognizes the extraordinary work of the hundreds of friends and colleagues with whom I have had the privilege to collaborate over the past five decades.”

As chair of the National Academy of Sciences committee on Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children, Landrigan helped shape the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996, strengthening safeguards for children’s health. Following the 9/11 World Trade Center disaster, his leadership advanced medical response efforts for first responders and impacted communities, contributing to long-term health protections.

In 2017, Landrigan served as lead author for the landmark The Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health report, which revealed pollution as a leading global health threat responsible for an estimated nine million deaths annually and closely linked to climate change. He updated those findings leading The Lancet Planetary Health in 2022.

Landrigan began his career as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At Mount Sinai School of Medicine, he chaired the Division of Environmental and Occupational Health from 1985 to 2018. His scholarship includes more than 500 scientific publications, books, and reports, shaping generations of clinicians, researchers, and policymakers.

A cornerstone of the collegium since his election as Fellow in 1983, Landrigan served as president from 1999 to 2021, guiding the organization through two decades of achievements, including global efforts to ban asbestos and lead.

Founded in 1982, the Collegium Ramazzini is an international scientific academy of physicians and scientists from 45 countries headquartered in the Castello di of Bentivoglio, located near Bologna, Italy. It is named in honor of Dr. Bernardino Ramazzini (1633-1714), viewed by many as a founding practitioner of occupational medicine, and is home to the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Centre.