Document jvOdDm5dpyNQR7OK8L7pdLKO
August 22, 1969
Berwyn F. Mattlson, M.D. Executive Director and
Secretary Committee on Eligibility The American public Health Association, Inc. 1740 Broadway Hew York, N. Y. 10019
Dear Doctor Mattlson:
X an not sure that ny reply to your letter of July 39, which cane while I
was having a fine holiday in nontax, will have reached you in tine to be
useful to you. If it should have been too late and if the application of
Hr. Boumas Xor Fellowship standing in the Anerican Public Health Association
has been acted on favorably, no harn will have been done, for he is a
decent and honest nan.
,
However, I cannot grant that he has "attained an established professional standing in the field of public health," and if he had asked my opinion, I would have advised him not to make such an application. I an sure that he would consider Fellowship in APHA to be advantageous in his work (for Lead Industries Association), and I sympathize, in a degree, with his wish to have such standing. Indeed, I may not be fully acquainted with his qualifications, but I know of no work or publication of his, nor of any educational, professional achievement or experience which X could cite in support of a recommendation.
I regret the necessity of giving you this expression of opinion, and X should be personally (but not professionally) embarrassed at having it come to the attention of Hr. Boumas, who has reason, because of certain mutual associations, to expect my personal approval. X do, indeed, think well of him personally, as I indicated above, but X think he has underestimated the professional significance of Fellowship status in the American Public Health Association.
Sincerely yours,
RAKxwp
Robert A. Keboe, H.D.
Professor Emeritus of OccupAtlonal Medicine
N22081