East Greenwich resident is national, state leader
KINGSTON, R.I. – December 9, 2009 — Marcella Remer Thompson, a doctoral candidate in the University of Rhode Island’s College of Nursing, has been named a Fellow by the Academy of American Occupational Health Nurses. She was recognized for her dedication and accomplishments in occupational and environmental health nursing in the areas of clinical practice, education, research, management and policy.
Thompson holds two masters’ degrees, one in nursing from Boston University and one in occupational health from the Harvard School of Public Health. She is a board certified occupational health nurse specialist and a board certified safety professional.
She was founding clinical director of one of the first hospital-based occupational health services in the United States at South Shore Hospital, South Weymouth, Mass., a consultant to small- and medium-sized businesses for occupational/environmental health and safety, and principal safety engineer for Cherry/ON Semiconductor Corp., a semiconductor manufacturing facility in East Greenwich. She has been a member of the clinical faculty at the University of Rhode Island and Salve Regina University.
In 2004, she was appointed by Gov. Donald Carcieri to chair the Rhode Island Commission for Mercury Reduction and Education. After a mercury contamination incident resulted in the evacuation of an entire Pawtucket apartment complex in 2005, Thompson developed emergency response protocols for the state Department of Health’s Office of Environmental Risk Assessment.
“Marcy Thompson is an outstanding doctoral student, who is working tirelessly to ensure that our citizens are living and working in safe environments,” said Dayle Joseph, dean of URI’s College of Nursing. “Her critical review of environmental risks and her dissertation work have important implications for all Rhode Islanders. We are fortunate to have her in our nursing community.”
Thompson is an active member of a number of professional organizations, including Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society (Delta Upsilon Chapter-at-Large), Association of American Occupational Health Nurses, American Society of Safety Engineers and the Rhode Island State Nurses’ Association Environmental Health Committee.
She has published a number of peer-reviewed journal articles, co-authored a nursing textbook chapter and presented at several international and national conferences. Thompson has been the recipient of numerous awards and has received grants for her research. She is working on her doctoral dissertation entitled, Concurrent Exposures to Multiple Environmental Chemicals Among Childbearing-Aged Women in the U.S.
To honor her, House Minority Leader Robert A. Watson recognized Thompson with a citation from the Rhode Island House of Representatives.
She and her husband, Michael, are East Greenwich, residents.