STILLWATER, Okla. – Dr. Judith M. Graber, Ph.D., M.S., was presented the 2024 Dr. John Granito Award for Excellence in Fire Service Leadership and Management Research at the 2024 International Fire Service Journal of Leadership and Management Research Symposium held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on July 13, 2024. This award is presented to individuals who have significantly advanced fire leadership and management literature through their research efforts.
Dr. Graber is an associate professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the Rutgers School of Public Health. She transitioned to higher education after fifteen years in the public sector at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Maine Bureau of Health. Dr. Graber earned her doctorate degree in epidemiology from the University of Illinois School of Public Health, where she was awarded the Haenszel Award for Excellence in Research and inducted into the Delta Omega Honor Society.
Casey Grant, executive director at D&S Research Associates & Engineers and executive director emeritus at the Fire Protection Research Foundation (the research affiliate for NFPA) serves with Judith Graber as one of the coleads providing administrative oversight of the overall Fire Fighter Cancer Cohort Study.
“Judith’s contributions to the FFCCS have focused on the volunteer firefighter community, and this is a significant contribution to this overall effort,” Grant said. “This specific cohort has traditionally been challenging to work with because of their broad and decentralized community base, and yet they are the majority of firefighters in the United States–approximately two-thirds–and most other countries.”
“Judith is deeply committed to providing relevant, credible and timely research results to address cancer in the fire service.” Grant said. “Her background and previous research experience have been a genuine strength to the FFCCS.”
WRITTEN BY: Mike Wieder | IFSTA Executive Director and FPP Associate Director
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