Turning the Page to AIHce 2014
It's too early to bookmark http://aihce2014.org, right? Maybe not.
Is it already time to flip the calendar's pages to May 2014? After a successful and very enjoyable 2013 conference in Montreal -- old, new, cosmopolitan, bustling, and ideal but for some rainy moments during the event -- the associations behind it already hope you'll bookmark their website for next year's conference in San Antonio, which has as much history, heat, and delicious cuisine as the Lone Star State can muster.
The American Industrial Hygiene Association inducted its new leader. Barbara J. Dawson, CIH, CSP, on Thursday as the conference bade adieu to Mount Royal and Old Montreal and industrial hygienists from many countries made their way home. This year's event lacked federal employees from OSHA, NIOSH, the Public Health Service, and the military, but the graduate schools were again well represented, the posters were good to excellent, and the educational program was outstanding. San Antonio's charms will be hard pressed to match the experience.
Dawson takes the top spot at an auspicious time, with AIHA celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2014. She said she hopes her presidency will define her as a collaborator as well as a leader. Her one-year term lasts until the end of AIHce 2014, which will take place May 31 through June 5. "AIHA is going to be celebrating a milestone birthday," she said. "As we get ready to turn 75, we have to stop and celebrate our profession's success over the past 75 years. At the same time, we have to look forward and ask ourselves what the next 75 will look like."
According to AIHA, Dawson has served as president of two local AIHA sections, and she became an AIHA Fellow in 2009. She is the global occupational health competency leader for DuPont in Wilmington, Del., and previously worked for SmithKline Beecham Corporation (now GlaxoSmithKline) and Rohm and Haas. She earned her master's degree in industrial hygiene from Temple University in 1981.
The deadline for AIHce 2014 PDCs is Sept. 1, 2013, and the deadline for submitting technical presentations is Sept. 13, 2013.