This week we welcome David Jacobs for an interview about his pioneering career working toward making housing healthier for all. For over 40 years David has been a force for good in the healthy homes movement. It started early in his career as a research scientist at Georgia Tech and continues today at his current positions at the NCHH and as the Director, US Collaborating Center for Research and Training on Housing Related Disease and Injury, World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization. From lead paint to gas stoves and everything in between David has been a tireless advocate for healthy housing. We look forward to his thoughts on accomplishments, current events and the future of healthy housing.

 

David E Jacobs, PhD, CIH is currently Chief Scientist at the National Center for Healthy Housing, where he recently completed a major study on indoor air quality in homes with gas stoves. He directs the US Collaborating Center for Healthy Housing Research and Training for the World Health Organization. He is also an adjunct associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health (Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Division). Jacobs holds degrees in Environmental Engineering, Science and Technology Policy, Environmental Health and Political Science. He is a licensed lead paint risk assessor and a board-certified industrial hygienist. He was a contributing author to the recently released Guidelines on Housing and Health from the World Health Organization. He helped launch the Healthy Homes Initiative in the US in 1999 with a report to Congress, where he has testified on several occasions (most recently in 2021). Dr. Jacobs has led research related to childhood lead poisoning prevention, lead exposure assessment and mitigation, healthy housing, asthma, green building design and policy development. He also was the principal author of the Guidelines for the Evaluation and Control of Lead Based Paint Hazards, the standard industry reference in the field. He was the principal author of the President’s Task Force report on childhood lead poisoning prevention in 2000. He previously served as director of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes from 1995-2004. He has over a hundred peer-reviewed papers and 20 book chapters or books, most of which are available here.