Make a difference in the challenge to confront global warming and prevent nuclear war and the development and use of nuclear weapons.
Support strong nationwide action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
Physicians for Social Responsibility is the only organization that educates and mobilizes health professionals on the most dire health threats from global environmental concerns and weapons of war. As a new intern in Medicine, in Portland, I was deeply concerned about US foreign policy and use of war to achieve societal control and I looked to PSR to take action on these issues from the lens of protecting public health. Over the years, their influence to reduce the threat from nuclear weapons and raise awareness of the human impact of war on all peoples of the world is paramount to changing policy and has resulted in passage of treaties to reduce nuclear weapons and to sway public opinion. Likewise PSR’s advocacy on global environmental health issues of toxins aided the passage of the global Persistent Organic Pollutants Treaty to remove the 12 worst chemicals from the earth. Lastly, the issue of Climate Change threatens not only the ecosystems around the world with floods, water scarcity, storms and heat waves but also direct impacts to our health via air pollution, threats to water and food security and infectious diseases.
PSR’s voice is heard in cities, states and in our nation’s capital advocating for prevention when there is no cure!
Biographical Sketch
Dr. Catherine Thomasson was president of national Physicians for Social Responsibility Board of Directors in 2007. She was a staff physician and educator at Oregon State University. As PSR Oregon board president for five years and in her work on the national board, she led efforts to educate and organize on issues of climate change and the threats that war and nuclear weapons pose to human life and health.
Since leaving the PSR Board at the end of 2008, Dr. Thomasson continued to practice medicine in the Oregon University Student Health system and has been active with local Oregon PSR and coalition partners. She brought the health voice to the Climate Change City Plan of Portland, to the campaign to close Oregon’s only coal-burning power plant, and to state coalitions addressing transportation and health. She taught climate change and public health at Portland State University and served on local and state-wide commissions to find solutions to climate change. She also worked with the Oregon Medical Association educating and advocating for chemical toxins reform national wide and on specific chemical issues at the state legislature and through the organization.
To request Dr. Thomasson as a speaker, please email psrnatl@psr.org or call 202-667-4260.
Red carpet awards for toxic chemicals, presented by PSR-Los Angeles, June 24, 2012.
Thomasson, Catherine, MD, Health Implications of a Nuclear Crisis with Iran, World Affairs Journal. Summer 2007, vol 11. 78-92
RSS Feed Privacy Policy Contact Us
All content © Copyright 2009 All rights reserved.
The Toxies