DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES Public Health Service
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Phone: (304) 285-6374 Centers for Disease Control
Fax: (304) 285-5820 and Prevention (CDC)
National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health (NIOSH)
1095 Willowdale Road
Morgantown, WV 26505-2888
24 March 2014
Prix de la Fondation de Médecine Sociale et Préventive, Lausanne
Commission des Prix et Concours de la Faculté de Biologie et de Médecine

Dear Members of the Commission: It is my great pleasure to write to you in my role as thesis advisor for Ilise L Feitshans to propose that you consider awarding the Prix de la Fondation de Médecine Sociale et Préventive, Lausanne to Dr. Feitshans for her summa cum laude thesis on Forecasting Nano Law: Protecting Public Health Under International Law which she has prepared in her graduate work for the doctorate of international relations.
She has dedicated exceptional and sustained personal efforts and commitment to this work over the last four years, working tirelessly to engage and help many national and international groups understand critical issues and opportunities for nano law and public health.
As the first integrating work of its kind at the interface of public health, the law, and emerging nanotechnology, her thesis and associated presentations, publications, and model law make an invaluable contribution to our field.
Several special features of her high quality and remarkably detailed work are that:
1. The breadth of knowledge that enabled her work spans several disciplines beyond the law public health and international relations in her degrees, including history of medicine and public health and social context of occupational health;
2. The innovative interdisciplinary method she has used will have implications for many other areas of public health beyond nanotechnology;
3. The expertise she has applied to conjoin the law and science in drafting regulations encourages a culture of innovation for commerce while protecting public health; and
4. Her rights-based analysis of occupational health in society and the role of health as a fundamental human right that protects civil society serves the purpose to support and advance those rights. Such analysis had been lacking
Dr. M. Hoover letter to the Prix Commission Page 2
before and her successful efforts to fill this gap represent a major invaluable contribution to the health for all.
5. And finally, she has accomplished this work by providing the salient information in clear language, avoiding jargon with a view to making that information accessible for all.
Please note as well my consideration that her talents are rare and her ability to apply them are exceptional.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide this letter. Please let me know if any additional information or direct discussion by phone or any other means would be of use to you.
Sincerely,
Mark D. Hoover, PhD, CHP, CIH
Senior Research Scientist
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Coordinator, NIOSH Exposure Assessment Program
Critical Area Leader, NIOSH Nanotechnology Research Center
and Adjunct Professor, School of Public Health, West Virginia University