Manolis Kogevinas Receives John Goldsmith Award

Manolis Kogevinas, researcher and Scientific Director of the Severo Ochoa Distinction at the ISGlobal, a centre supported by the ”la Caixa” Foundation, has received the 2020 John Goldsmith Award, the highest honour awarded by the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE).

The John Goldsmith Award recognises “sustained and outstanding contributions to the knowledge and practice of environmental epidemiology” and is awarded annually to professionals who have “ contributed in substantive and innovative fashion to the methods and practice ” of this scientific discipline. This year’s winner was announced at the ISEE annual conference.

Manolis Kogevinas has a long and distinguished career in environmental epidemiology. He is the author of more than 600 scientific journal articles that have amassed more than over 50,000 citations. He has supervised 15 doctoral theses. He previously served as co-director of the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL) and worked at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organisation (WHO). He is an advisor to several WHO expert committees and European scientific committees. In the last five years alone, he has chaired two IARC Monograph meetings. He has served as ISEE president (2016-2017) and director of the European Educational Programme in Epidemiology (EEPE) in Florence, Italy.

In recent years, Kogevinas’s research has focused onoccupational health, the health effects of circadian disruption and the assessment and control of the effects of chemical contaminants in drinking water. His track record includes large-scale international epidemiological studies. A committed public health advocate, Kogevinas plays an active role in Europe and worldwide in promoting environmental epidemiology research and translating research findings into policy and law.

“I am very honoured to receive this award,” commented Kogevinas. “In addition to being the highest honour in the world of environmental health, it also recognises the essential link between research and prevention policies, which is especially important now, as we face the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Kogevinas.

This is the third time in the last six years that an ISGlobal professional has won the John Goldsmith Award. Mark Nieuwenhuijsen and Jordi Sunyer received the award in 2018 and 2014, respectively, illustrating ISGlobal’s strength in the world of global research on environmental health.