James P. Keogh Award for Outstanding Service

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is pleased to recognize one current or former NIOSH employee each year for exceptional service to the field of occupational safety and health. This award honors the contributions made by public health workers who fight long odds to achieve safer and healthier workplaces.
James P. Keogh, MD was a tireless advocate for worker safety and health who died in June 1999 at the age of 49. His earliest work in academic medicine identified dimethylaminopropionitrile as the causal agent in an outbreak of bladder neuropathy in the 1970s. Dr. Keogh was able to make this determination because, unlike many of the clinicians initially contacted by the workers, he took their complaints seriously and applied clear public health principles to his investigation. Throughout his life, he listened carefully to workers, characterized hazards and diseases, and then fearlessly worked to identify compensation for the individual and prevention strategies for others. Dr. Keogh was instrumental in the inclusion of construction workers in the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health lead standard, a full decade before the Federal standard did the same. He was a leading medical educator who always focused on the need to incorporate clinical compassion with public health prevention. His most outstanding legacy, however, was his fierce determination to put knowledge into practice to benefit the worker.
Previous James P. Keogh Award Winners
2021 Award Announcement Winner: Maryann D’Alessandro
2020 Award Announcement Winner: Chris Coffey
2019 Award Announcement Winner: Leslie Nickels
2018 Award Announcement Winner: Pete Kovalchik
2017 Award Announcement Winner: Diane Porter
2016 Award Announcement Winner: Thomas R. Waters
2015 Award Announcement Winner: Kathleen Kreiss
2014 Award Announcement Winner: Albert E Munson
2013 Award Announcement Winner Michael Attfield
2012 Award Announcement Winner Alice Suter
2011 Award Announcement Winner Linda Rosenstock
2010 Award Announcement Winner James W. Collins
2009 Award Announcement Winner: John Howard
2008 Award Announcement Winner: Mitch Singal
2007 Award Announcement Winner: Steven Sauter
2006 Award Announcement Winner: Marilyn Fingerhut
2005 Award Announcement Winner: Rosemary Sokas
2004 Award Announcement Winner: Dawn Castillo
2003 Award Announcement Winner: James A. Merchant
2002 Award Announcement Winner: Philip J. Landrigan
2001 Award Announcement Winner: William Edward Halperin
2000 Award Announcement Winner: Richard A. Lemen