Robert W. Powitz, Ph.D., M.P.H., RS, CF-SP, is Principal Forensic Sanitarian at R. W. Powitz & Associates, P.C., in Old Saybrook, CT.

He received his undergraduate education from the State University of New York and the University of Georgia. He holds an M.P.H. and Ph.D. degree in environmental health, epidemiology, and environmental microbiology from the University of Minnesota.

Formally trained as an Institutional Sanitarian, Bob is currently a Forensic Sanitarian in private practice. He served as state Sanitarian and municipal Health Officer in New Jersey and Connecticut. He holds licenses as a Sanitarian in several states and has been nationally registered for 54 years. He was the Director of Environmental Health and Safety and Associate Professor at Wayne State University in Detroit and served as Biological Safety Officer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center.

For more than 35 years he wrote regularly appearing columns and articles on food safety, current environmental health issues, field instrumentation, and institutional environmental health practice. He does frequent speaking tours for governmental agencies, industry, and professional organizations.

Bob is the recipient of the three highest honors conferred to a sanitarian: the National Environmental Health Association’s Walter S. Mangold Award; NSF International’s Walter F. Snyder Award; and the American Academy of Sanitarians’ Davis Calvin Wagner Award. He is a Diplomate Laureate in the American Academy of Sanitarians and a Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Engineering and Technology.