Joseph LaDou (born August 19, 1938; died November 10, 2023),[1][2] was an
occupational and
environmental medicine physician who practiced in
Silicon Valley during the early years of the
semiconductor and
computer industries. In 1983, he was appointed the first Chief of the
University of California, San Francisco (MC) Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine,[2] and was co-director of the residency program there from 1982-1991.[citation needed]
LaDou was founding editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, serving in that capacity from 1992 to 2005.[3][4] During the same years, LaDou was director of UCSF's International Center for Occupational Medicine.[5]
Career
From 1983 to 2002, in addition to his other responsibilities, LaDou was the director to "Advances in Occupational and Environmental Medicine", a continuing medical education course that trained more than 3,000 physicians (500 from developing countries) in
occupational medicine.
LaDou's study of the global migration of hazardous industries[citation needed] led to efforts to control occupational and
environmental hazards.[citation needed] As one example, his study of
asbestos in developing countries (LaDou, 2004) led to a call for an international ban on
asbestos mining and use in commercial products.[5]
Following retirement, LaDou was Professor Emeritus of Medicine at UCSF.[2]
Works
Among LaDou's notable publications:
LaDou, Joseph, ed. 1986. Special Issue on "The Microelectronics Industry," State of the Art Reviews: Occupational Medicine1 (1, January–March). Philadelphia: Hanley and Belfus.
LaDou, Joseph, and Timothy Rohm. 1998. "The International Electronics Industry," International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health4 (1): 1-18.
LaDou, Joseph. 2003. "International Occupational Health," International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health 206:303-313.
LaDou, Joseph, and Sandra Lovegrove. 2008.
"Electronics Waste Export,"International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health14 (1) :1-10.
LaDou, Joseph. 2010. "Worker's Compensation in the United States: Cost Shifting and Inequities in a Dysfunctional System," New Solutions20 (3): 291-302.
LaDou, Joseph. 2012. "Workers’ Compensation Reform," Int J Occup Environ Health 18 (2): 92-5.
LaDou, Joseph, Leslie London, and Andrew Watterson. 2018. "Occupational Health: A World of False Promises," Environmental Health17 (1): 81.
doi:
10.1186/s12940-018-0422-x.
LaDou, Joseph, and Robert J. Harrison, eds. 2021. Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Occupational & Environmental Medicine, 6th ed. McGraw-Hill Medical, New York.
ISBN978-1260143430
^LaDou, Joseph. 2020. "A World of False Promises: International Labour Organization, World Health Organization, and the Plea of Workers Under Neoliberalism,"
International Journal of Social Determinants of Health and Health Services, 50(3):314-323.
doi:
10.1177/0020731420917912