Dr. Richard Jackson former Director, National Center for Environmental Health, CDC The Shaping of Our Environments is Shaping Our Health Much More Than We Realize. November 20, 2006, 2006 Since 1994, Dr. Jackson has been the director of the National Center for Environmental Health, one of the seven centers at the CDC in Atlanta. He began his career at the CDC as an EIS officer assigned to the New York State Department of Health, and worked there on infamous outbreaks of Legionnaire's disease, swine flu and Lyme disease. A pediatrician at heart, Dr. Jackson has an ongoing and keen scientific interest in the public health effects of pesticides and other toxic substances, particularly as they may affect children. Dr. Jackson earned his MD from the University of California at San Francisco and his MPH from the University of California at Berkeley. Dick Jackson is co-author of the book Urban Sprawl and Public Health, a 2004 book from Island Press. He has served on many medical and health boards, and in September 2005 he was selected to serve on the Board of Directors of the national American Institute of Architects AIA. His strongest public health interest is in developing the next generation of leaders in Public Health.