Dr. Nancy Wertheimer, who with Ed Leeper published the first report of an association between residential electrical wiring configuration and childhood leukemia, will receive the d'Arsonval Award on Monday, June 21 at the 1999 Annual Meeting of the Bioelectromagnetics Society (BEMS) in Long Beach, CA USA. The d'Arsonval Award is presented by BEMS to recognize outstanding achievement in bioelectromagnetics. Dr. Wertheimer is the seventh recipient of the d'Arsonval Award having been preceded by O.P. Gandhi, C.H. Durney, C.A.L. Bassett, W. Ross Adey, Arthur W. Guy, and Herman P. Schwan.
Dr. Wertheimer received the B.S. degree in psychology and biology from the University of Michigan in 1948, the M.A. in experimental psychology from Harvard and Radcliffe in 1951, and the Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Harvard and Radcliffe in 1954. She did post-graduate studies in advanced biochemistry at the Uni-versity of Colorado in 1955-56 and at the University of Minnesota in epidemiology in 1967.
Since 1980, Dr. Wertheimer has been a clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Colorado Medical School where she had previous appointments between 1967 and 1980. She has also held positions at the Fort Logan Mental Health Center, the Mental Health Branch of the State of Colorado Department of Institutions, University of Colorado Psychology Department, Rockland State Hospital and Worcestor State Hospital. In addition to BEMS, Dr. Wertheimer is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, and the American College of Epidemiology.
Dr. Wertheimer's early research was on metabolic efficiency, rheumatic fever and the incidence of schizophrenia. Her research on exposure to electromagnetic fields via power lines and health effects has been published in Bioelectromagnetics, American Journal of Epidemiology, Science, International Journal of Epidemiology, Annals of the New York Academy of Science, Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, Health Physics Society Newsletter, and the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. She has made numerous presentations at conferences, symposia and meetings around the world.
In addition to her scientific pursuits, Nancy has three children and eight grandchildren. She enjoys reading, music, hiking and nature and is an active participant in village life at the local coffee shop in Boulder, Colorado.