Meet the 2023 International Hearing Protector Fit Testing Symposium Keynote Speakers
- John Howard, MD, MPH, JD, LLM, MBA
- Melanie Hayes, DNP, APRN, FNP-C
- Rick Neitzel, PhD, CIH, FAIHA
 John Howard is the Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the Administrator of the World Trade Center Health Program in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Howard was first appointed NIOSH Director in 2002 during the George W. Bush Administration and served in that position until 2008. In 2009, Dr. Howard worked as a consultant with the US-Afghanistan Health Initiative. In September of 2009, Dr. Howard was again appointed NIOSH Director. He was reappointed for a third six-year term in 2015, and a fourth term in 2021.
Prior to his appointments as NIOSH Director and WTC Health Program Administrator, Dr. Howard served as Chief of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health in the State of California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency from 1991 through 2002.
Dr. Howard earned a Doctor of Medicine from Loyola University of Chicago; a Master of Public Health from the Harvard University School of Public Health; a Doctor of Law from the University of California at Los Angeles; and a Master of Law in Administrative Law and Economic Regulation, and a Master of Business Administration in Healthcare Management, both degrees from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Howard is board-certified in internal medicine and occupational medicine. He is admitted to the practice of medicine and law in the State of California and in the District of Columbia, and he is a member U.S. Supreme Court bar. He has written numerous articles on occupational health, policy and law.
A nurse for over 30 years, Melanie Ezell Hayes, DNP, APRN, NP-C has worked as a certified nurse practitioner for 24 years including 10 years in occupational health. For nine years, she served as director of a military occupational medicine clinic. In 2021, she completed a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree as a NIOSH trainee at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and was selected as the first nurse practitioner to work in OSHA's Office of Occupational Medicine and Nursing in Washington, DC. In this role, she works in enforcement and regulatory support and advocates for improving worker health and safety at the local, state and national level. She is a national presenter on topics such as HPD fit testing and hearing loss prevention, heat stress mitigation, OSHA regulations, and nursing scope of practice.
Rick Neitzel is an exposure scientist whose research focuses on the characterization of exposures to noise, heavy metals and other ototoxins, psychosocial stressors, and injury risk factors, as well as a range of adverse health effects associated with these exposures. His work, and the work of his team in the UM Exposure Research lab, takes place in occupational and community settings both domestically and abroad. He is particularly interested in incorporating new methodologies and exposure sensing technologies into research, and also has a strong interest in translating his research findings into occupational and public health practice. He directs the UM Global Public Health certificate program, and is also Director of the UM Center for Occupational Health and Safety Engineering and the UM Industrial Hygiene program.
Prior to his appointment to the faculty of the UM Department of Environmental Health Sciences, he worked as a Research Scientist in the University of Washington Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences from 1998-2011. He is a Fellow of the American Industrial Hygiene Association and has been a Certified Industrial Hygienist since 2003.
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