Title: Philippe Grandjean is the 2015 <scp>BCPT</scp> Nordic Prize Awardee
Abstract: Professor Philippe Grandjean (left) is presented with the BCPT Nordic Prize 2015 by BCPT Editor-in-Chief Kim Brøsen on the occasion of the Annual Meeting of Danish Society for Pharmacology, Odense, Denmark, 20 January 2016 Philippe Grandjean was born in Denmark on 1 March 1950. He graduated as MD from University of Copenhagen in 1973 at the age of 23, and at the same university, he 6 years later defended his doctoral thesis titled, ‘Widening perspectives of lead toxicity’. He received a Fulbright Senior Scholarship and spent 2 years at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, from 1978 to 1980 before returning to Denmark to become head of the Department of Occupational Medicine, at the Danish National Institute of Occupational Health. Two years later, in 1982, at the age of 32, Philippe Grandjean became Professor of Environmental Medicine at University of Southern Denmark, where he is now working and inspiring new generations of environmental and human toxicologists for nearly 35 years. Since his first position in the USA in 1978, Philippe Grandjean has remained closely linked to well-reputed research institutes in the USA. From 1994 to 2002, he was Adjunct Professor of Environmental Health and Neurology at Boston University, and from 2003 and onwards, he has served at Harvard School of Public Health as Adjunct Professor of Environmental Health. Professor Philippe Grandjean has accomplished remarkable results in the area of toxicology and environmental medicine. He is by all standards a role model for a modern university scientist. He manages to combine very high standards on research, a strong and independent integrity, an ability to communicate science equally well to peers, students and lay audience, and an engagement and vision that is evident throughout his career in documenting and preventing unintended exposure of the public to environmental toxicants. Neurotoxicity has been his dominating field of interest, and during recent years, his research has had a specific focus on delayed effects of developmental exposure to environmental chemicals. The main efforts have been based on prospective studies of birth cohorts exposed to elevated levels of environmental pollutants, especially at the Faroe Islands, where the main source of exposure is the traditional diet (pilot whale). The focus has been on neurotoxicity, immunotoxicity, endocrine disruption and other adverse effects on growth and development. The research has dealt with (methyl)mercury, but other key pollutants are the perfluorinated compounds, PCBs and endocrine disruptors. His population studies in the Faroe Islands have had a major policy impact and have inspired downward revisions of methylmercury exposure limits internationally. His Lancet publication from 2006 1 on Developmental Neurotoxicity of Industrial Chemicals has become a standard reference with substantial impact on research as well as policy. Within the most recent years, this publication still has more than 80 annual citations, and shortly following this publication, the Boston Globe wrote a portrait article of Philippe Grandjean entitled, ‘He's trying to make the world safer’. In addition, an important research angle is age-dependent functional decline and degenerative disease of the nervous system and the cardiovascular system in relation to lifetime exposure to mercury and persistent environmental chemicals. Studies in other countries also focus on neurological effects due to arsenic, fluoride and pesticides. Philippe Grandjean has for the last 30 years acted as Consultant in Toxicology at the Danish Health and Medicines Authority and advised on a wide variety of topics related to environmental exposures and human risk. He has been a member of a number of national advisory boards including Danish Medical Research Council (member, 1992–1998), Committee on Research at the Faroe Islands (chair, 1996–1997), Research Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation (member, 2004–2009), Danish Advisory Council on Prevention (member, 2011–2013). Internationally, he has chaired the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) task group, Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans (Vol. 58; 1993). He has chaired the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) Commission on Toxicology (1987–1991). He has been a member of the European Food Safety Authority, Panel on Contaminants (2003–2009), and board member of the Norwegian Research Council since 2011. Philippe Grandjean has since 2009 been a member of special emphasis panels, National Institutes of Health (USA), since 2011 been a member of World Health Organization's European Advisory Committee on Health Research, and since 2012 been a member of the Scientific Committee at the European Environment Agency. Philippe Grandjean is fellow at Collegium Ramazzini since 1987 (council member, 2005–2013), he became fellow at American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1994 and he became emeritus Fellow at The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry in 2009. Philippe Grandjean received the prestigious Danish Dannin Prize for medical research in 1991 and received the Honorary Research Award by the International Order of Odd Fellows in 2010. In 2004, he received an unusual recognition – the Mercury Madness Award for excellence in science in the public interest, from eight US environmental organizations. Philippe Grandjean has authored around 300 international publications. He has been cited more than 10,000 times, and his Hirsch index is 56. He was guest editor on one of the highest cited Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology special issues 2 (>1,200 citations since it was published in 2008). In 2002, Philippe Grandjean initiated the first open-access online journal in the field, Environmental Health, for which he remains editor in chief. He is member of the editorial board of an additional four scientific journals. Not only within the scientific community is Philippe Grandjean well known. He has for years been ‘Mr Environmental Health’ in Denmark, and he has been ready whenever the media or health authorities have looked for honest and understandable information, often on controversial matters. Philippe Grandjean has participated as expert and speaker on many occasions at hearings at the Danish as well as European Parliaments related to the impact of environmental toxicants on human health. Likewise, he has been invited to present his views on the influence of environmental toxicants on public health at the Senate and at the House of Representatives in Washington, USA. In that sense, he truly fulfils the very important task of university researchers to be available and able to communicate and interact with the surrounding society. In 2012, he received the Science Communication Award by University of Southern Denmark. Philippe Grandjean has over the latest 32 years shared his enthusiasm for the field of neurotoxicity and protection of the populations all over the world against environmental toxicants through teaching and supervision of thousands of medical students and numerous Master and PhD students. Philippe Grandjean has demonstrated extraordinary scientific commitment, integrity and skills and placed himself as an outstanding researcher blessed with the ability to communicate science to the public as well as peers. These qualities make Philippe Grandjean a worthy receiver of the BCPT Nordic Prize in Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology.