Dr. Michael SilversteinKeynote Speaker for 2012 Scientific Awards Ceremony

Michael Silverstein, M.D., M.P.H., currently serves as the Chair of the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health. He most recently served as the Assistant Director for Industrial Safety and Health in the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I), where he led the Department's Division of Occupational Safety and Health with responsibility for managing the state's Occupational Safety and Health Administration program.

Prior to working at L&I, Dr. Silverstein worked for the Washington State Department of Health as State Health Officer and Epidemiologist and spent two years in Washington, D.C. as Director of Policy for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). For fifteen years prior, he was Assistant Director for Occupational Health and Safety with United Automobile Workers in Detroit, Michigan. He began working at L&I in 1997 and in 2005 spent 4 years away from state government as a Clinical Professor at the University of Washington School of Public Health and a private consultant.

Dr. Silverstein has practiced family and occupational medicine inMichigan and California. He has degrees from Harvard University, Stanford Medical School, and the University of Michigan School of Public Health and has board certification as a specialist in occupational medicine.

Dr. Silverstein has been an active member of several professional associations including the American Public Health Association, where he served as the Chairman of the Occupational Safety and Health Section, and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, where he served as a member of the Ethics Committee. He has authored numerous scientific research and policy articles, including recent publications on the regulatory process, the future of OSHA, and asbestos cancer risk assessment. Dr. Silverstein has served on several Institute of Medicine panels, including those addressing the safety and health of older workers,the protection of young workers, hearing loss prevention and the medicine of extreme environments.