Eric-Sampson
Dr. Eric J. Sampson '63
Achievement in a Chosen Profession

Eric served for over 25 years as Director of the Division of Laboratory Sciences (DLS), at the Centers for Disease Control’s National Center for Environmental Health. He received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the Pennsylvania State University in 1972 and served as an officer in the U.S. Navy until 1974, teaching chemistry at the U.S. Naval Academy. Before going to the CDC in Atlanta in 1976, he was a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Research Fellow and also served as Deputy Director of the Clinical Chemistry Laboratory, Pathology Department, at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey.

As DLS director, Dr. Sampson led a scientific staff of approximately 380 people. He and those under his direction were involved in a number of precedent-setting epidemiologic studies and exposure assessments in the area of environmental health in which laboratory data provided key information for formulating public health policy.

Areas of applied research within DLS under Dr. Sampson’s leadership included laboratory measurements of environmental chemicals in people using a technique known as biomonitoring. The major product of this work has been the biennial publication of CDC’s influential National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, which contains data on exposure of the U.S. population to hundreds of environmental chemicals. His division also participated in 50 to 75 studies each year that were associated with nutritional indicators, chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, smoking, newborn screening, and genetics. The Division continues to remain involved in many public health emergencies and investigations, and it has also played a keyrole in responding to acts of chemical and radiologic terrorism.

Over the course of his distinguished career, Dr. Sampson has been the recipient of numerous awards. Among them, the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service; the National Center for Environmental Health Director’s Special Recognition Award for exceptional vision, leadership and scientific contributions; and the Association of Public Health Laboratories President’s Award for service to the public health laboratory system. In addition, he has received the Diabetes Technology Society Leadership Award, and the William C. Watson, Jr. Medal of Excellence Award by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He has testified before Congressional committees on biomonitoring and has lectured worldwide as an eminent authority in the field of epidemiology.

Eric retired from the CDC in 2011 but continues to serve as a consultant in epidemiology. He and his wife, Rosie, reside in Bowie, MD. They have two children and one grandchild.