Alcoa and the School of Medicine have entered into an innovative arrangement wherein the school's Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program, directed by Dr. Mark R. Cullen, will work with Alcoa's medical and occupational health staff to provide services to the corporation that have been traditionally delivered exclusively by internal personnel.
Dr. Cullen, professor of medicine and epidemiology, will direct the efforts of a Yale team to, in part, provide medical input, advice and evaluation to Alcoa on issues related to occupational and environmental medicine. Dr. Cullen's Yale team will develop and evaluate medical protocols and work with Alcoa staff to develop, update and interpret company-wide health programs.
Alcoa is the world's largest producer of aluminum. The company has 76,000 employees at 178 operating locations in 28 countries.
As part of the School of Medicine, the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program has access to the school's extensive resources, faculty, scientists and specialists. The program encompasses experts in the fields of medicine, immunology, industrial hygiene, epidemiology, nursing and medical research.
"This state-of-the-art partnership between a major medical school and industry to provide health and occupational medical services represents an exciting advance in this field," says Dr. Cullen. "Our relationship is parallel to the historic change of a century ago when medical schools and hospitals joined to provide the highest possible standards of clinical care for the sick. In a similar way, this agreement between Alcoa and Yale significantly enhances the ability of a major industrial company to manage and address medical and occupational health issues."
Richard B. Kelson, Alcoa's executive vice president for environment, health and safety, and its general counsel, said that Alcoa has entered into this arrangement because "the Yale group brings an extraordinary breadth of expertise to Alcoa that would otherwise be unobtainable.
"Our goal is to have the best occupational health and medical program that we can," he added. "This partnership -- teaming our internal health personnel with Dr. Cullen's group -- gives us a depth and breadth of expertise that assures that we will provide our employees with excellent occupational health services."
Dr. Cullen founded the Yale Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program in 1979. "The relatively new specialty of occupational and environmental medicine focuses on the external causes of illness and injury found in the workplace and ambient environment," he explains. "The goals of our research and practice are to understand these external causes and to develop strategies which will prevent the ill effects, or when that fails, will recognize and treat them. These efforts will benefit Alcoa and its employees, as well as others who work in industry."