Join us for our final Shabbat Voices of 2026 with Dr. David Michaels, former Ass’t Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA).

David Michaels PhD MPH, is an epidemiologist and Professor at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. He served as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health from 2009 to January 2017, the longest serving administrator in OSHA’s history. Previously, David served as Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environment, Safety, and Health, charged with protecting the workers, community, and environment around the nation’s nuclear weapons facilities. He was the chief architect of the historic initiative that has provided $32 billion in compensation for nuclear weapons workers who were sickened following exposure to radiation, beryllium or other hazards.

Much of David’s work focuses on defending the integrity of the science underpinning public health, safety, and environmental protections. On this topic, he is the author of The Triumph of Doubt: Dark Money and the Science of Deception (Oxford University Press, 2020) called “a tour de force” by Science Magazine and “a brave and important book, raising the alarm about the systemic corruption of science” by the journal Nature, and Doubt is Their Product: How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens Your Health (Oxford University Press, 2008).

Throughout his career, David has focused on the health of disadvantaged communities and the impact of infectious diseases on underserved populations.  He developed a widely-
cited mathematical model estimating the number of children and adolescents orphaned by HIV/AIDS, and founded and directed the Epidemiology Unit at of the Montefiore-Rikers Island Health Service, the first such unit in a jail in the United States. Learn more about his work here.

Sponsored by Claire Engers and David Silberman in memory of Charles and Arlene Silberman.