Dr Enrique Paz made his university studies in the Catholic University of Lovaina and the Hospital Saint Luc (Belgium), where its basic formation received the support of the technology more outposts. The clinical and surgical subjects attended them in the Greater University of San Andrés of La Paz (Bolivia), which allowed him to know in depth the epidemiological profile from diverse regions of his country, giving him a complete academic formation. His studies of specialty made them in Spain where he obtained the title of Masters in Public Health in Cooperation to the Social Development. Finally, in 1996 - 1998 the Center of Diseases control of the United States (CDC) evolved like Resident Official in Applied Epidemiology (EIS), where it designed and it lead scientific investigations in relation to present or potential problems of importance in public health, and specially in the Epidemiology area, important for the decision making, in special associated to dangerous substances of the Environment, natural disasters, buds of diseases and epidemiology in general.

He attended several important seminaries and workshops, taking several courses from training in Public Health and developing investigations in applied Epidemiology in health on exposure to pesticides in children (1998), exposure to ashes by volcanic exhalation in Cuernavaca Mexico (1998, Ice Storms in Maine (1998), Nevada Water Well Contamination (1997, Tornados in Texas (1997), hurricane Fran in North Carolina (1996), Implementation of the System of Monitoring in Natural Disasters of the American Red Cross and the CDC. It has made evaluations of exhibition to heavy metals with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the University of San Luis Potosi, in La Paz and Oruro in Bolivia (1995).

The Dr Paz has been temporary consultant of the PAHO in La Paz, Bolivia (1995- 1996) in projects of environmental quality, working with the Ministry of social Forecast and Public Health, Ministry of sustainable Development and Environmental and diverse Non-governmental organizations, as much in the Eastern zone of the country, in the great fluvial river basins, like in the mining zones of Oruro. In university teaching, he has been Professor of Biostatistics and Environmental Health, in the University of Our Mrs. of La Paz and in the Ibero-American University of La Paz.

Dr. Paz has worked in Ministry of Health of Bolivia in charge of the Epidemiology Reform and is currently the Environmental Health Advisor for the PAHO Field Office in the U.S.-Mexico Border since January 1999 to present.

Mr. Hiba holds a degree on Mechanical Engineering (1970) from University of Rosario, Argentina. He also attended a three year course on industrial design at the Industrial Design Institute, University of Rosario, and worked as a free lance professional for several years. He is Master of Sciences (1973) in Ergonomics from the University of Loughborough, England. That year Hiba was appointed Head of the Laboratory of Applied Ergonomics, Faculty of Engineering, University of Rosario. In 1974 was appointed Assistant Professor and later promoted to Professor in Ergonomics to the same Faculty. He was also Researcher on Ergonomics, National Research Council, Argentina.

In 1990, Hiba joined the Working Conditions Branch, Working Conditions and Environment Department, ILO, Geneva, as Senior Research and Development Officer. From April 1999 serves the ILO as Senior Working Conditions, Occupational Safety and Health Specialist, Technical Multidisciplinary Team for the Andean Countries, Lima, Peru. His main subjects of interest are the improvement of working conditions and increase in productivity in enterprises.

Tequila Brooks is a Labor Law Advisor working at the Commission for Labor Cooperation Secretariat. Before joining the Secretariat, she represented workers in occupational injury cases in the state of New Mexico. She received her BA in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland and graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1997 with a law degree and an M.A. in Latin American Studies. Her law thesis was a comparative analysis of the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC or NAFTA Labor Side Agreement) and the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights.

Rafael Moure-Eraso is full Professor in the University of Massachusetts Lowell, College of Engineering, Department of Work Environment. He has taught and conducted research in Work Environment Policy, Cleaner Production and Industrial Hygiene since 1988. As an immigrant from Colombia South America, Dr. Moure-Eraso has made emphasis on occupational studies of Latinos in the United States and Latin-America. Prior to his academic work, he gained extensive experience in worker health issues during his combined 14 years as the Industrial Hygienist of two U.S. national unions: the Oil Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union (OCAW) and the United Automobile Workers (UAW).

Dr. Moure-Eraso has graduate degrees in Chemical Engineering (B.Sc. and MS) and Environmental Health Industrial hygiene (MS And Ph.D.) From the Universities of Pittsburgh, Bucknell and University of Cincinnati Medical Center. His research interests focus in policy issues in work environment, including international health and safety, sustainable production and the interface of occupational and environmental health as public health disciplines.

During his professional life Dr. Moure-Eraso has served and continues serving in national advisory panels in occupational and environmental health. He has been a member of the National Advisory Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) of the U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA. He serves in the Board of Scientific Counselors (BSC) of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). He is currently a member of the Board of Advisors of the National Toxicology Program (NTP) of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). He was also elected in 1989 as the Chair of the Occupational Health Section of the American Public Health Association (APHA).

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Paul Olson holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry from Southwest Missouri State University and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Duke University. He has been working for 3M's Occupational Health and Environmental Safety Division since 1983, and has been actively involved in the international area since 1985. Paul Olson helped organize the Americas Meeting on Curriculum for Occupational Hygiene at FUNDACENTRO, in São Paulo, Brazil in December 1998. He further chaired the American Industrial Hygiene Association's International Affairs Committee in 1999. Currently, Paul Olson supports the Respiratory and Hearing Protection, Environmental Products and Industrial Hygiene Sampling Businesses in Latin America, Africa and India.

Romulo Diaz was appointed by President Clinton as Assistant Administrator for the Office of Administration and Resources Management (OARM) at the Environmental Protection Agency in October 1998. He provides direction for the Agency’s human resources, contracts and grants, employee health and safety and the management of facilities located in 38 states. He administers a budget of $6 billion and oversees a staff of nearly 1,400 employees at EPA headquarters and the regions.

Under his leadership, OARM has developed strategic alliances with public and private laboratories, educational institutions, and community groups to broaden the Agency’s programs to protect the environment and enhance public health. He has championed efforts to create a more diverse workforce, such as outreach to Hispanic communities nationwide, and to ensure that the Agency has the scientific and technical skills it will need in the years ahead. In addition, he has promoted initiatives to reduce air and water pollution from Agency facilities and make them more energy efficient. He has implemented OARM’s first management plan, a results-oriented strategy designed to stimulate innovation and customer service, while ensuring financial integrity.

Mr. Diaz has more than 25 years of experience in public service. He served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to former Energy Secretary Hazel R. O’Leary, and as DOE’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Affairs. He was the first Director of DOE’s regulatory coordination office. He also served as Chairman of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Petroleum Planning Committee.

His past accomplishments include negotiating the international contingency response to the 1990-91 Gulf Crisis, which resulted in the first emergency drawdown of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He received the Secretary of Energy’s Gold Award for coordinating DOE’s regulatory reform efforts that resulted in the elimination and streamlining of the Department’s regulations, internal directives, and paperwork burden, saving more than $100 million.

A native of Texas, Mr. Diaz received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin, and a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law.

He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Federal Bar Association, and the National Hispanic Bar Association. He resides in Washington, DC, and Cherry Hill, NJ.

A native of Venezuela and Canadian citizen, Dr. Tennassee is a graduate of the Central University of Venezuela (MD) and of the University of Toronto (MPH and MHSc). She is a Physician and Senior Advisor with over 25 years of experience in the national and international health fields, with a focus on the Americas, addressing north/south issues in an integrated approach. Dr. Tennassee is directly involved in policy development, organization and evaluation of health programs at the provincial and federal levels, as well as research and teaching. Her expertise integrates Occupational/Environmental Health, Epidemiology, Public Health and Pediatrics to positively impact on critical health issues in a broader context and from a multisectorial perspective.

Presently, Dr. Tennassee is the Regional Advisor on Workers’ Health at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO). Her responsibilities include the analysis of workers’ health situations at the international, national, community, sectorial or workplace levels, with a particular emphasis on health problems relates to work and employment conditions; the identification and evaluation of policies for protecting and improving workers’ health; and the negotiation of support from government agencies, unions, employers and NGO’s to the international trends in workers’ health which may be relevant for the Region.

Dolores C. Huerta is the co-founder and Secretary-Treasurer of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO ("UFW"), and she has played a major role in the American civil rights movement. In 1955, she was a founding member of the Stockton chapter of the Community Service Organization ("CSO"), which battled segregation and police brutality, led voter registration drives, pushed for improved public services and fought to enact new legislation. Recognizing the needs of farm workers, while working for the CSO, Dolores organized and founded the Agricultural Workers Association in 1960. She became a fearless lobbyist in Sacramento, and in 1961 succeeded in obtaining the citizenship requirements removed from pension, and public assistance programs. She also was instrumental in passage of legislation allowing voters the right to vote in Spanish, and the right of individuals to take the driver’s license examination in their native language. In 1962 she lobbied in and Washington DC for an end to the "captive labor" Bracero Program.

It was through her work with the CSO that Dolores met Cesar Chavez. They both realized the need to organize farm workers, and they formed the National Farm Workers Association ("NFWA"), the predecessor to the UFW. In 1966, Dolores negotiated the first United Farm Workers Organizing Committee ("UFWOC") contract with the Schenley Wine Company. This was the first time in the history of the United States that a negotiating committee comprised of farmworkers negotiated a collective bargaining agreement with an agricultural corporation. Dolores also spoke out early and often against toxic pesticides that threaten farm workers, consumers, and the environment. These early UFWOC agreements required growers to stop using such dangerous pesticides as DDT and Parathyon. As a legislative advocate, Dolores became one of the UFW’s most visible spokespersons. Robert F. Kennedy acknowledged her help in winning the 1968 California Democratic Presidential Primary.

In the 1970s, Dolores directed the east coast boycott of grapes, lettuce, and Gallo wines. The boycott resulted in the enactment of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, the first law of its kind in the United States, which granted farm workers the right to collectively organize and bargain for better wages and working conditions. In 1975 Dolores lobbied against federal guest worker programs and spearheaded legislation granting amnesty for farm workers that had lived, worked, and paid taxes in the United States for many years but were unable to enjoy the privileges of citizenship. This resulted in the Immigration Act of 1985.

Today, Dolores Huerta still works for the union she co-founded and nurtured. Many days find her in cities across North America promoting "La Causa" (the farmworkers’ cause) and women’s rights. Together with Cezar Chavez, they founded the Robert F. Kennedy Medical Plan, the Juan De La Cruz Farm Worker Pension Fund, the Farm Workers Credit Union, the first medical and pension plan and credit union for farm workers. They also formed the National Farm Workers Service Center, Inc., an community based affordable housing and Spanish language radio communications organization with five Spanish radio stations. As an advocate for farm worker rights, Dolores has been arrested twenty-two times for non-violent peaceful union activities.

In 1984 the California State Senate bestowed upon her the Outstanding Labor Leader Award. In 1993 Dolores was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. That same year she received the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Roger Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award; and the Eugene V. Debs Foundation Outstanding American Award, and the Ellis Island Medal of Freedom Award. She is also the recipient of the Consumers’ Union Trumpeter’s Award. In 1998 she was one of three Ms. Magazine’s, "Women of the Year", and the Ladies Home Journal’s, "100 Most Important Women of the 20^th Century". In addition, Dolores has received honorary doctorate degrees from the New College of San Francisco (1990), the San Francisco State University (1993), and the S.U.N.I. New Palz University (1999).

Aside from currently serving as the Secretary-Treasure of the United Farm Workers, she is the Vice-President for the Coalition for Labor Union Women, the Vice-President of the California AFL-CIO, and is a board member for the Fund For The Feminist Majority which advocates for the political and equal rights for women.

Adolph P. Falcón is Vice President for Science and Policy for the National Alliance for Hispanic Health. The National Alliance for Hispanic Health is the oldest and largest network of health and human service providers annually serving over 10 million (one in three) Hispanic consumers throughout the U.S. The Alliance’s mission is to improve the health and well-being of Hispanics in the United States.

In his position with the Alliance, Mr. Falcón oversees the research and policy activities of the organization. Recent initiatives include: Growing Up Hispanic, an initiative which has conducted a comprehensive national and state-level assessment of the status of Hispanic child health and well being and established six regional public policy centers focusing on the needs of Hispanic adolescents and their families; Unidos por la Salud which has established six regional centers at Comprehensive Cancer Centers for culturally competent cancer research; Nuestras Voces, an initiative which is providing Hispanic youth with the tools they need to have a voice in tobacco control; and the Community Agenda initiative which seeks to ensure that the needs of Hispanic communities are incorporated into national and state public policy on issues ranging from mental health and welfare reform to environmental health and community infrastructure.

Prior to joining the Alliance, Mr. Falcón was editor-in-chief of the Journal of Hispanic Policy at Harvard University and a senior associate at the Boston Redevelopment Authority. He is a graduate of the John F. Kennedy School of Government and Yale University.