Jack Spengler

The award recognizes the independent bodies of work by Spengler and Molina, although coincidentally the researchers are collaborating on air quality studies in Mexico City.

Spengler, Akira Yamaguchi Professor of Environmental Health and Human Habitation in the Department of Environmental Health at HSPH, was recognized for his research as well as his advocacy efforts.

"Dr. Spengler is a true scientific explorer, having charted, virtually by himself, an undiscovered environmental scourge–indoor air pollution," said Teresa Heinz, chairman of the Heinz Family Foundation, in a press release. "He has succeeded in focusing the nation’s attention on a new insidious, invisible threat, one that had been silently and adversely affecting the nation’s health. The technology that scientists rely on today for critical air pollution measurements would not have been possible without Dr. Spengler’s pioneering work."

Spengler is currently helping to lead the Healthy Public Housing Initiative, an endeavor to respond to high levels of asthma in low-income communities in Boston. He was co-editor of the Indoor Air Quality Handbook. Earlier in his career, he was a researcher with the groundbreaking Six Cities Studies, which explored the environmental risks associated with sulfur dioxide and particle emissions from coal-burning power plants. The studies found a lethal relationship between particulate matter and cardiovascular mortality.

"The Heinz Award draws a spotlight to the very real problems that millions of people around the world experience," said Spengler. "In developed society, we worry about radon, cigarette smoke, asbestos, lead, and, now, molds–along with chemicals found in many products. But a few billion people–mostly women and children–suffer daily exposures to indoor air pollution from the low-quality fuels that they have to use for cooking and heating. The health toll for poor indoor air is staggering."

Spengler will receive the award during a private ceremony in Washington, DC in March.

The Heinz Family Foundation was established in 1984 by Senator John Heinz, who later died in a helicopter crash in 1991. His widow, Teresa Heinz, created the Heinz Awards in 1993.

Also receiving a Heinz Award this year is Paul Farmer, the Maude and Lillian Presley professor of social medicine at HMS, and co-founder of Partners In Health, a non-profit organization. Farmer was recognized for his efforts to raise health care standards in developing countries. He will participate in the Jonathan Mann lecture on March 6.

Six people received Heinz Awards this year.

For more information about the Heinz Awards, visit the web at www.heinzawards.net.