Document resource
Objective The biographical details of leaders in the field can help retrieve key parts of the neglected history of occupational epidemiologyMaterial and Methods The history of occupational epidemiology was reviewed from a biomedical and a historiographic perspective. Persons were considered leaders in the field if they carried out investigations among working groups, identifying risk factors or interventions to prevent or ameliorate adverse health outcomes and whose work influenced practice and policy. Shared biographical attributes among these figures were explored for general insights they provide.Results The biographies of six persons spanning three centuries are considered: James Lind (1716–1794); Louis-René Villermé (1782–1863); Alice Hamilton (1869–1970); Austin Bradford Hill (1897-1991); Alice Stewart (1906–2002); Archie Cochrane (1909–1988). All made important contributions in occupational epidemiology. Lind’s work as a Naval physician concerned ‘sea scurvy,’ a life-threatening occupational disease among sailors, carrying out what is arguably the first clinical trial for any disease. Villermé is a founder of modern demography whose work on the health of textile workers was central to his oeuvre. Hamilton’s survey research methods among rayon workers set a new benchmark. Hill, remembered for his work on smoking, started off studying industrial fatigue. Stewart’s work on clinical radiation exposure eclipses appreciation of her study of nuclear industry workers. Cochrane, closing the circle with Lind, is renowned for promoting clinical trials, but this was rooted in his experience in pneumoconiosis research. All championed marginalized populations, a shared link to occupational epidemiology.Conclusion Occupational epidemiology owes a great debt to these figures, whose contributions warrant an integrated consideration to inform our own work and our training of future practitioners in the field.Funding Supported in part by a National Library of Medicine Michael E. DeBakey Fellowship in the History of Medicine.