Name Marcus Key | ||
Marcus M. Key is a public health administrator and practitioner who served as the first director for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (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.
The Act established in the establishment of 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.
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. By 1975, 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.
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.
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 Health.