Marysel Pagán SantanaMarysel Pagán Santana 2021 Lorin Kerr Awardee OHS Section APHA October 27

2021 Lorin Kerr Awardee: Marysel Pagán Santana, DrPH, MS
Occupational Health and Safety Section of the American Public Health Association, October 27, 2021
Marysel Pagán Santana has devoted her career to improving worker health and safety, particularly those impacted by the climate crisis and public health emergencies in Puerto Rico. Marysel started her career as an industrial hygienist and her doctoral studies focused specifically on disenfranchised workers. She examined how the Worker Protection Standard, the federal regulation to protect agricultural workers from pesticide poisoning, needed improvement to meet the needs of Puerto Rican workers. She interned with a community health center in a remote mountainous area in Puerto Rico, conducting and later leading their farmworker health and safety training program. Her advisors were skeptical that occupational health and safety interventions could take place outside more traditional factory settings. She ultimately convinced them otherwise; they honored her with an environmental justice award, and she changed her dissertation to study farmworker health.
Marysel’s studies were interrupted in 2017 when hurricanes ravaged the island. As student body president, she tirelessly advocated to get students and surrounding communities’ food, lodging and other assistance. She used this experience to successfully lead a community mobilization project with Migrant Clinicians Network, where she is helping health centers prepare, manage, and respond to emergencies, including how to ensure workers are protected.
Throughout COVID-19 she been an important advocate for Puerto Rican workers. Endless hours of training and technical assistance to health departments supported the systematic documentation by contact tracers and cases investigators on work-related outbreaks. In addition, she worked with the health department in the development and implementation of health and safety protocols in schools for a safe reopening. She also helped school custodians and teachers prepare for in-person learning, helping them understand how to protect themselves and improve ventilation.
Marysel embodies the essence of the Lorin Kerr Award. Her sustained and outstanding efforts underscore her dedication to improve the lives of workers.
Lorin Kerr Award
Lorin Kerr (1909 -1991) was a life-long activist and served for over 40 years as a physician for the United Mine Workers. He was dedicated to improving access to health care for coal miners and other workers and to obtaining compensation for and preventing black lung disease. This award recognizes a younger activist for their sustained and outstanding efforts and dedication to improve the lives of workers.