Kathryn L. Mueller MD, MPH, FACOEM
Dr. Mueller’s career began as a board certified emergency medicine physician and in that capacity she served first as an EMS medical director in south Chicago and then for the state of Colorado. Her specialty shifted when she became board certified in occupational and environmental medicine, which she practiced clinically at the University of Colorado. She has held the positions of President of the Rocky Mountain Academy of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Secretary –Treasurer for the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and on the Board of Directors for both organizations. From 2002-2007 she served as Residency Director for the occupational medicine residency. Currently she continues as the Medical Director for the Division of Workers Compensation in Colorado, a post she has held since 1992. In that position she has worked to develop evidence-based guidelines that are used in this state and several others as basis for care for work related injuries. Dr. Mueller also directs the state workers compensation accreditation program for physicians. She was one of the six section editors for the AMA Guidelines for the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment 6th edition and has numerous publications relating to interstate variation of practice in workers compensation, use of practice guidelines, and impairment rating.
Dr. Mueller declares no conflict of interest in this program.
Lee S. Newman, MD, MA, FCCP, FACOEM
Lee S. Newman, M.D., M.A., FCCP, FACOEM is Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health, in the Colorado School of Public Health, Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health-funded Mountain and Plains Education and Research Center, Director of a National Institutes of Health-funded research program in immunotoxicology.
Dr. Newman is also a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine in the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus. Board certified in internal medicine and pulmonary medicine, for 20 years, Dr. Newman’s pulmonary medicine practice focused on the diagnosis, management and prevention of occupational and environmental lung disorders, especially granulomatous disorders and other interstitial lung diseases related to work, including chronic beryllium disease, asbestos-related lung conditions, silicosis, and other dust-induced pulmonary disorders. He is founder and Chief Medical Information Officer of Axion Health, Inc., a health informatics company that develops web-based software for occupational health practice (Denver, CO).
Dr. Newman conducts research and teaches environmental and occupational health in the Colorado School of Public Health. His clinical research, epidemiologic studies, and immunotoxicology laboratory research focus is on the immune basis of sarcoidosis, chronic beryllium disease, granulomatous and fibrotic disorders, mechanisms of fibrosis, mechanisms of asbestos carcinogenesis, metal and fiber immunotoxicology, the relationship between genetics and environmental exposures, as well as translational studies of the clinical, laboratory, pathologic, and radiologic methods of diagnosing lung disorders. He is the author of more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, 9 books, and more than 100 scholarly reviews, chapters, and white papers.
Dr. Newman consults for government agencies, corporations, labor organizations and community and employee groups. This has included consultation for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its contractors, the Department of Labor (DOL), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a member of the Pulmonary and Allergy Drug Advisory Committee (PADAC), National Institutes of Health (NIH) special emphasis panels and study sections, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), U.S. EPA, among others.
Dr. Newman received a BA in psychology from Amherst College and a Masters of Arts degree in social psychology from Cornell University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. He earned his MD from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, and his pulmonary fellowship at the University of Colorado Denver/National Jewish Health (Denver, CO), which included three years post-doctoral research in both Immunology and Occupational Medicine. He joined the faculty of National Jewish Health and the University of Colorado in 1987. From 1996 – 2005, he served as Chair of the Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at National Jewish Health, prior to accepting his current position at the University of Colorado.
He is a Fellow of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians, and Fellow of the Collegium Ramazzini.
Dr. Newman declares no conflict of interest in this program.
Dr. Franklin obtained the M.D. degree from
George Washington University, and the M.P.H. degree from the University
of California at Berkeley. He is a board-certified neurologist whose
current positions are 1) Research Professor, Departments of
Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, and Medicine
(Neurology), University of Washington School of Public Health, and 2) Medical Director, Washington State Department of Labor and Industries.
Dr. Franklin is the chair of the Washington State Agency Medical Directors Group, and has led efforts by the state
agencies in Washington in the development of evidence-based health
policy. His current research interests include population-based outcome
studies for work-related musculoskeletal disorders, health care delivery
research, and research to predict disability and generate models of
disability prevention in workers’ compensation.
Dr. Lori Szczukowski is an Internal Medicine specialist and Occupational Physician at Denver Health and Hospital Authority in the Center for Occupational Safety and Health, Department of Medicine. She is an Instructor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Colorado School of Public Health.
Dr. Szczukowski has been in medical practice in Colorado since 1984. Board-certified in Internal Medicine since 1983, Dr. Szczukowsi is also a certified Medical Review Officer (MRO), an FAA aviation medical examiner and is Level II accredited in worker’s compensation in the state of Colorado. She is a clinical preceptor for preventive medicine and for occupational medicine residents from the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus.
A magna cum laude graduate of Vanderbilt University, Dr. Szczukowski completed her medical education at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1980. She completed her internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in 1983, where she was recognized for her resident research on the risk factors for post-sternotomy mediastinitis. She practiced internal medicine with The Denver Clinic/Accord Medical Center from 1984 to 1990. From 1990-1998, she practiced internal medicine with Kaiser Permanente Medical Group, Denver, CO. She joined Denver Health in 1998, initially at their Occupational Health and Safety Clinic at Denver International Airport, and more recently at Denver Health.
Dr. Szczukowski is the mother of two daughters. Her interests include gardening, international travel, and the natural sciences.
Dr. Szczukowski declares no conflict of interest in this program.