The History of OEM: OEM Becomes a Specialty - Part I

TRACK: Management and Administration in OEM

Paul D. Blanc, MD, MSPH, University of California, San Francisco, CA
Tee Guidotti, MD, MPH, FFOM, FRCPC, FACOEM, Medical Advisory Services, Rockville, MD
Robert K. McLellan, MD, MPH, FAAFP, FACOEM, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH

The ACOEM Section on History and Archives is pleased to present a series of presentations on the history of occupational and environmental medicine (OEM), from the origins of occupational medicine over 300 years ago to the formation of a national organization of occupational health physicians in the U.S. 100 years ago, to the rapid evolution of the specialty over the past thirty years as modern programs and concepts have arisen in many areas of occupational medical practice, including transportation medicine, substance abuse and screening, and health and productivity management. Speakers include ACOEM leaders with a great deal of personal knowledge and experience, including some who have themselves been instrumental in developing the specialty of OEM in their areas of expertise.
The first session, Occupational Medicine Becomes a Specialty, will review our history from the days of Bernardino Ramazzini and before through the industrial revolution to the early 1900s in the U.S., and will include the impact of industrialization and changing technology on occupational illness and injury, the emergence of new biomedical concepts concerning public health and toxicology, and the effects of changing sociopolitical forces on OEM. This session was organized by the History and Archives Special Interest Section. This session may be of particular interest to residents and recent graduates.