Bowman appointed chair of U.S. Labor Department’s advisory board for compensation, benefits of nuclear weapons industry workers

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Aaron Bowman, professor and interim dean of Purdue University’s College of Health and Human Sciences (HHS), has been selected to serve as chair of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health for the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program.

This is Bowman’s first term as chair and third two-year term on the board. His term runs through July 2026.

Through the program known as EEOICPA, the U.S. government provides lump sum compensation and medical benefits to current and former nuclear weapons workers whose illness is the result of working in the nuclear weapons industry. Since 2001 the program has paid more than $26 billion in compensation and medical benefits.

Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su said Bowman’s participation as board chair will be invaluable in assisting with the specified technical aspects of the program. “We appreciate his willingness to continue working with us on this important program for nuclear weapons workers and their families,” she said.

Bowman will chair an advisory board composed of 12 to 15 members from the scientific, medical and claimant communities. “I am honored to lead this board, which advises the U.S. Department of Labor in administering benefits for energy workers who become ill due to their service of our country,” he said.

Acting HHS dean since October, Bowman served five years as head of Purdue’s School of Health Sciences and has a lengthy list of scholarly achievements. In addition to his EEOICPA role, Bowman is president-elect of the International Neurotoxicology Association and a member of the Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience.

As a researcher and teacher, he has focused his scholarly efforts across the fields of genetics, pharmacology, biochemistry, and cell and developmental biology to understand the role of gene-environment interactions between metal exposure and neurodegenerative diseases.

Bowman served on the faculty at Vanderbilt University before coming to Purdue in 2018. He earned his PhD in biomedical sciences from the University of California, San Diego, after graduating cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from Brigham Young University.

Writer: Phillip Fiorini, pfiorini@purdue.edu