Marcus M. Key

Marcus Malvin Key was a public health administrator and practitioner who served as the first director for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in the U.S. government.

Marcus M. Key
Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Assistant Surgeon General of the United States
In office
1971–1974
Preceded byFirst to hold this office
Succeeded byJohn Finklea
Personal details
BornMarch 2, 1924
Lakeland, Florida, USA
DiedOctober 31, 2020
Irvington, Virginia, USA

Education and early career

Key attended public schools in Lakeland, Florida and Little Rock, Arkansas. He studied at Columbia University beginning in 1941, but in 1943 his studies were interrupted by military service in World War II.[1] He served in the 20th Air Force as a B-29 navigator and radar navigator-bombardier, flying ten combat missions in the Pacific including the "Last Mission" of the bombing of the Nippon Oil Company at Akita on Aug. 14, 1945.[2]

He returned to Columbia University in 1947, earning his A.B. in 1949 and M.D. in 1952. He then earned an Master of Industrial Health at the Harvard University School of Public Health in 1954. He was an Assistant Resident in Dermatology at Presbyterian Hospital in New York City during 1954–56, and a Clinical Fellow in Dermatology at Cincinnati General Hospital during 1956–58.[1]

He became a Medical Officer in the Division of Occupational Health, the predecessor of NIOSH, in 1956. He became Assistant Chief of the Dermatology Section in 1960 and its Chief in 1965. He became Chief of Clinical Services and Acting Chief of the Appalachian Laboratory for Occupational Respiratory Diseases in 1967. As part of the Public Health Service reorganizations of 1966–1973, the Division of Occupational Health became the Bureau of Occupational Safety and Health; Key became its Deputy Director in 1968 and its Director in 1969.[1]

NIOSH

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, signed by President Richard Nixon, gave new responsibilities to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), including the mandate to perform research on occupational safety and health problems, hazard evaluation, toxicity determinations, manpower development and training.[3]

The Act established the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and Marcus M. Key was appointed as the new Institute's first director. Previously Key had been the Assistant Surgeon General and director of the Bureau of Occupational Safety and Health. At NIOSH, Key oversaw 475 employees and worked with an initial budget of $17.8 million.[3]

In 1974, B.F. Goodrich Chemical Company contacted NIOSH concerning deaths and illnesses in its Louisville factory. After a coordinated investigation, Key issued recommendations for exposure limits to vinyl chloride. His published recommendation suggested that vinyl chloride used in the factory resulted in four fatalities from angiosarcoma of liver.[4][5] By 1975,[6] Dr. Key had resigned as director and was eventually replaced by John Finklea, who had overseen the Environmental Protection Agency's national laboratory in Durham, N.C.[7]

University of Texas

Key began teaching at the University of Texas School of Public Health. In 1985, he was contacted by Labor Secretary William E. Brock about heading the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). After considering the post, Key opted to continue with his professorship, where he continued until his retirement in 1994.[8][9]

In September 2013 Shell Oil Company partnered with the University of Texas School of Public Health to endow the Marcus M. Key, M.D.-Shell Occupational and Environmental Health Endowed Chair in honor of Key to provide funding to recruit and retain senior faculty in the school’s Occupational Medicine Program of the Division of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Science.[10]

References
  1. Departments of Labor and Health, Education, and Welfare Appropriations for 1972: Hearings. U.S. House of Representatives. 1971. p. 342.
  2. "Dr. Marcus Malvin Key Obituary". Tribute Archive. Retrieved 2020-11-06.
  3. Seagle, Edgar F. (March 1972). "The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare". American Journal of Public Health. 62: 411–413. doi:10.2105/ajph.62.3.411. PMC 1530067. PMID 5011174.
  4. "Recommended Occupational Health Standard for Manufacture of Synthetic Polymer From Vinyl Chloride Archived 2008-09-21 at the Wayback Machine". National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. March, 1974. Retrieved on November 4, 2008.
  5. Brody, Jane E. (March 13, 1974). "Plastics Workers Screened for I11 Effects of Vinyl Chloride; Special to The New York Times WORKERS TESTED ON CHEMICAL ILLS". New York Times. p. 43.
  6. ""News From NIOSH." Job Safety & Health Journal. October 1974 (Vol. 2, No. 10)". 1974-09-01.
  7. "The safety watchdog starts getting tough". Business Week (Industrial Edition). August 11, 1975. pp. 62D.
  8. Perl, Peter (August 29, 1985). "Inside: the Labor Department; U.S. Will Help States Obey Overtime Rule". The Washington Post. pp. A23.
  9. Cahan, Vicky (September 23, 1985). "Brock wins by losing on affirmative action but he's striking out so far at OSHA". Business Week. p. 49.
  10. Bower, Shon (September 9, 2013). "Shell partners with UT School of Public Health on Occupational and Environmental Health faculty chair". The University of Texas School of Public Health Communications.
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