Ann S. N. Backus, MS

Biography

Ann Backus, MS, graduated from Mt Holyoke College in 1963 and was employed as a Research Assistant in auditory neurophysiology at the Eaton Peabody Laboratory of Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI) from 1963-1965. At MEEI she worked with Dr. Nelson Y.S. Kiang on stimulus coding in the cochlear nucleus and sound pressure transformation by the head and auditory meatus of the cat. She spent a year in Kaduna, Nigeria working at a maturnity hospital and independently studying the incidence of Kwashiokor, a protein deficiency disease of young children.

Upon return to the U.S., Ms Backus worked for the New Hampshire College and University Council where she initiated a state-wide safety and security academy in collaboration with campus security directors and coordinated development programs for college faculty. She also founded and convened monthly the Health Services Workshop for the directors of health services at the 12 higher education institutions in New Hampshire. After completing a Masters degree in Organization and Management at Antioch New England Graduate School, Ms. Backus became Director of the outreach program of the Harvard-NIOSH ERC at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and in 1997 became also the Administrator for the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Residency Program at HSPH.

She presently writes bimonthly columns entitled FISH SAFE and The Voice of Safety for Commercial Fisheries News and Fishermen’s Voice, respectively, and serves by appointment on the Maine Commercial Fishing Safety Advisory Council.

Other outreach activities include community education at the Tar Creek Superfund Site in Oklahoma in conjunction with the HSPH Center for Children’s Environmental Health and the co-founding of the Environmental Health Nursing Collaborative of Greater Boston for HSPH-NIEHS Center for Environmental Health.