David Platt Rall (August 3, 1926 – September 28, 1999) was a cancer specialist and a leader in environmental health studies, whose work in environmental health helped turn it into a scientific discipline. Rall also advanced public health and prevention. He directed the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences from 1971 to 1990, year in which he retired. His work on toxicology and carcinogenesis was recognized by his appointment as the first director of the National Toxicology Program in 1978. He held the rank of Assistant Surgeon General in the United States Public Health Service. He also chaired the World Health Organization's Program on Chemical Safety.
Early life and education
Born in Naperville, Illinois, Rall attended North Central College and received his BS degree in 1946 where his father was president; his MS in Pharmacology from Northwestern University in 1948; his M.D. and Ph.D. in pharmacology from Northwestern University School of Medicine in 1951. Rall interned at Bellevue Hospital in New York City from 1952 – 1953 when he joined the National Cancer Institute in 1954. He began his research career as a scientist at NCI, where he served in a variety of research and administrative positions until 1971. Rall also served as a surgeon (1955–1959), a senior surgeon (1959–1960), medical director (1963–1971), and assistant surgeon general (1971–1990) in the United States Public Health Services. He pioneered the effort to identify and understand the elements that make up the human environment and their consequences for human health. Rall was devoted in educating scientists, governments, and the world community to the critical need to address the existence of environmental agents and their consequences for human health.
Rall developed the NIEHS Extramural Program to administer an expanding portfolio of PHS grants and awards in environmental health science to researchers at colleges and universities throughout the United States. Rall served as the U.S. coordinator of cooperative environmental health programs between the United States and the U.S.S.R., the United Kingdom, Egypt, Japan, the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, Italy, Finland, and Spain. As a result of his work in attempting to strengthen international scientific cooperation, in 1975 the NIEHS was designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a Collaborating Center for Environmental Health Effects. In 1980, Rall played a leading role in an effort to establish the WHO's International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), the goal of which is to provide an internationally evaluated scientific basis for the assessment of the risks to human health and the environment of chemicals. Also, during that NTP-formative era, Rall helped establish the 1978 Public Law that initiated the innovative Report on Carcinogens.
Retirement
In 1990, Rall retired from the NIEHS but remained extremely active in the environmental health arena. He chaired the IPCS and held a variety of other positions including foreign secretary of the IOM, board member of the Environmental Defense Fund, chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Hawaii Heptachlor Research and Education Foundation, and member of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Following his retirement, he chaired the program of chemical safety for the World Health Organization, served as foreign secretary of the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences and was a board member of the Environmental Defense Fund. Rall also was a scientific counselor at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The American Public Health Association established a permanent honor in recognition of Rall's life and work: the David P. Rall Award for Advocacy. The David P. Rall Building, the main edifice on the NIEHS's Research Triangle Park campus, was dedicated to his memory in 2000.