Profile Join ACGIH®

Meritorious Achievement Award

Home Subscriptions Awards & Elections ACGIH Awards Meritorious Achievement Award

2025 Meritorious Achievement Awardee

The Meritorious Achievement Award is given to members of ACGIH who have made outstanding, long-term contributions to the field of occupational health and environmental hygiene.

The recipient of the 2025 Meritorious Achievement Award is COL(Ret.) Mary S. Lopez, PhD, CPE.

Dr. Lopez retired from military service after 33 years as an Army officer. She is a past Chair of the ACGIH Board of Directors and has served on it from 2019-2024. She is also the past Chair of the ACGIH Threshold Limit Values for Physical Agents (TLV-PA) Committee. Dr. Lopez was an active member of the Physical Agents Committee from 2004 to 2018, serving as a subject matter expert in Ergonomics and Human Factors, Vice Chair (2005-2010) and Chair (2010-2018). She was elected to the ACGIH Board of Directors in 2019 and has served as Chair (2020 and 2021).  She is a Certified Professional Ergonomist (CPE) and a licensed Occupational Therapist. Colonel (Retired) Lopez graduated from San Jose State University with a B.S. degree in Occupational Therapy (OT) and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army. She completed her OT internship at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC. Dr. Lopez holds a Master of Health Administration (MHA) degree from Baylor University and a PhD in Industrial Engineering – Human Factors and Ergonomics from Texas A&M University.  Dr. Lopez served as Chair of the DOD Ergonomics Working Group and has held numerous positions on Army and DOD Occupational Safety and Health Committees and Working Groups. She has held academic appointments at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health.

Previous Award Recipients

  • 1957 — Members of the Industrial Ventilation Committee (past and present)
  • 1958 — Members of the Committee on Threshold Limits (past and present)
  • 1959 — Lester M. Petrie, MD
  • 1960 — Thomas F. Mancuso, MD
  • 1961 — Hervey B. Elkins, PhD, CIH
  • 1962 — No award presented
  • 1963 — George Hama
  • 1964 — Victoria Trasko
  • 1965 — Herbert E. Stokinger, PhD
  • 1966 — John C. Soet
  • 1967 — Andrew D. Hosey, CIH
  • 1968 — William G. Fredrick, ScD
  • 1969 — John J. Bloomfield
  • 1970 — Catherine Chambers, RN
  • 1971 — E. Lynn Schall
  • 1972 — Marcus M. Key, MD
  • 1973 — Warren A. Cook
  • 1974 — U.S. Army Environmental Hygiene Agency
  • 1975 — Edward Baier, CIH
  • 1976 — Henry N. Doyle, CIH
  • 1977 — Members of the Threshold Limit Values for Physical Agents (TLV-PA) Committee (past and present)
  • 1978 — James C. Barrett
  • 1979 — Charles D. “Pete” Yaffe, CIH
  • 1980 — Duncan A. Holaday, CIH
  • 1981 — Christine Einert, MD
  • 1982 — Dohrman H. Byers, CIH
  • 1983 — Mary Louise Brown
  • 1984 — Irving H. Davis, CIH
  • 1985 — Harry J. Ettinger, CIH
  • 1986 — Herbert H. Jones, CIH
  • 1987 — William D. Wagner
  • 1988 — William D. Kelley
  • 1989 — Vera Fiserova-Bergerova Thomas, PhD
  • 1990 — Vernon E. Rose, DrPH, CIH
  • 1991 — Robert L. Harris, PhD
  • 1992 — Charles E. Adkins, CIH
  • 1993 — Jeffrey S. Lee, PhD, CIH
  • 1994 — R. Jerry Sherwood, SM, CIH, CEng (UK)
  • 1995 — Howard E. Ayer, CIH
  • 1996 — John Doull, PhD, MD
  • 1997 — William D. Wagner
  • 1998 — Sidney Case Soderholm, PhD, and James H. Vincent, PhD, DSc
  • 1999 — Dave K. Verma, PhD, CIH, ROH
  • 2000 — William Burgess
  • 2001 — Morton Corn, Ph.D., CSP
  • 2002 — Threshold Limit Values for Chemical Substances (TLV-CS) Committee (past and present members) and the Industrial Hygiene Section of the Hazard Evaluations and Technical Assistance Branch (HETAB) of NIOSH (past and present members)
  • 2003 — Scott E. Merkle, CIH
  • 2004 — Morton Lippmann, PhD, CIH
  • 2005 — Robert T. Hughes, MSME, PE
  • 2006 — Patrick N. Breysse, PhD, CIH
  • 2007 — Lisa M. Brosseau, ScD, CIH
  • 2008 — Michael S. Morgan, ScD, CIH
  • 2009 — Gyan S. Rajhans, ROH, CIH, PE
  • 2010 — Patricia Stewart, PhD, CIH
  • 2011 — Jimmy L. Perkins, PhD, CIH
  • 2012 — John M. Dement, PhD, CIH
  • 2013 — Carol Rice, PhD, CIH
  • 2014 — Beverly S. Cohen, PhD
  • 2015 — D. Jeff Burton, MS, PE
  • 2016 — Stephen J. Reynolds, PhD, CIH, FAIHA
  • 2017 — J. Torey Nalbone, PhD, CIH, FAIHA
  • 2018 — Robert F. Herrick, ScD, CIH
  • 2019 — Lynn C. O’Donnell, CIH
  • 2020 — Thomas J. Armstrong, PhD, CIH
  • 2021 — Mary V. O’Reilly, PhD, CIH, CPE
  • 2022 — Jonathan F. Hale, MPA
  • 2023 — Dr. Lauralynn Taylor McKernan, Sc.D., CIH
  • 2024 — Nancy Wilk, HBSc, MHSc, CIH