Gregory Wagner, MD

Professor
Department of Environmental Health
HSPH

Throughout his career, Dr. Wagner has provided organizational leadership at the juncture between scientific research and public health policy, both nationally and internationally. At Harvard, he teaches about the science behind occupational and environmental policies and regulations and the limits of regulatory health protective strategies.

Until recently, he served as Senior Advisor to the Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH/CDC).  At NIOSH, he developed and led the WorkLife Initiative, the precursor to the NIOSH Total Worker Health program.  From 2009 to early 2012,
 
Dr. Wagner served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health, providing organizational leadership for a federal agency with more than 2200 employees and 100 field offices. While there, he led efforts to develop and enforce regulations protecting the health and safety of US miners, including efforts to improve protections against silicosis and black lung, and he had a primary role in the response to the worst mining disaster in the U.S. in 40 years.

Dr. Wagner has worked closely with both the World Health Organization and International Labor Organization to stimulate and support international efforts to better recognize and prevent lung diseases from work and improve screening and surveillance practices. He has taught in Vietnam, Thailand, India, and China in support of the Global Program for Elimination of Pneumoconioses. He served on numerous expert committees nationally and internationally for the ILO, WHO, and the American Thoracic Society [ATS], US Department of Justice, among others. He chaired the Ethics Committee for the ATS and was a member of the committee that re-wrote the standards of ethical practice for the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Board certified in internal medicine and public (occupational) health, he has practiced rural primary care medicine and taught both medicine and public health.
He recently received the Alice Hamilton Award from the American Public Health Association in recognition of his lifetime achievements.