Written by Douglas DeMoulin, Ph.D.
My journey started at Murray State University where I received my BS and MS in Occupational Safety and Health. Following in my father’s footsteps, I wanted to pursue a Ph.D and focus my research efforts on the health and well-being of firefighters. I always had a passion researching firefighters, and when I pursued my Ph.D in the Occupational Injury Prevention program at the University of Minnesota, I had the opportunity to work alongside my mentor, Dr. Hyun Kim, researching mental health in firefighters. These opportunities inspired me to investigate an emerging mental health condition, referred to as moral injury. This condition is highly researched among military veterans and the measurement scales recently became available to screen for moral injury; however, no measurement scale was available for firefighters.
My dissertation titled “Moral Injury: A Statewide Assessment on the Burden, Risk, and Protective Factors among Minnesota Firefighters” focused on developing a moral injury scale specifically for firefighters and assess the potential risk and protective factors of moral injury. In my dedication section of my dissertation, I wrote: “This research is dedicated to all firefighters who devote everything to their community and put themselves in harm’s way to save lives by sacrificing their time with family and their personal well-being. The sacrifices you make and the stress you endure constantly are not unnoticed. My professional career and future research hereafter will be dedicated to support the health and well-being of firefighters and other first responders.” This is not limited to just mental health but includes the personal well-being of cardiac-related issues and cancer as a result of their sacrifice. What led to the development of my interest in cancer research involves the unprecedented mortality rates of cancer and cardiac arrest in the fire service, an occupation at high-risk of cardiac-related cases as a result of exposure to toxic environments. One of the major yet unique challenges in the fire service compared to other occupations is identifying the toxic chemicals attributable to adverse health. In most occupations, the chemical(s) are known; however, in the fire service, each building contains hundreds of unknown chemicals and when under extreme temperatures, alters the molecular structure to more complex derivatives that can potentially yield more toxic characteristics than the parent chemical. Additionally, firefighters respond to hazardous materials events (mostly on large scales), whether traversed by tanker trucks, rail carts, or stored in industrial-sized vessels, firefighters are exposed to immediately dangerous to life or health environments.
This is why I chose to do my postdoctoral studies in the Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology of Cancer (MAGEC) program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). I was interested in the MAGEC training program because of the success the program has demonstrated, the support provided for post-doctoral fellows, and the resources available to achieve their career goals. The MAGEC program provides post-doctoral fellows with reputable mentors who are pioneers in their field of study. The success of MAGEC’s training program is demonstrated through the achievements of prior MAGEC fellows and placement at tenure-track positions. Currently, I have been involved in investigating occupational benzene exposure among Chinese men in the Shanghai Men’s Health Study and also collaborated with VUMC researchers and Pfizer representatives assessing psychosocial factors and cancer survivorship. It is an honor to have this opportunity and to work alongside my mentors: Drs. Xiao-Ou Shu, Loren Lipworth, and Wei Zheng here at VUMC.