A Lifetime of Commitment : ‘I like the notion of being in public health for 60 years.’

* March 17, 1915: Born in Bismarck, N.D.

* 1937: Entered public health as a senior medical student at University of Minnesota.

* 1943-46: Preventive-medicine officer, 7th Infantry Division in the Pacific during World War II.

* 1946: Initiated California Public Health Chronic Disease Program (was given Albert Lasker Award in 1960 for this service).

* 1947: Initiated California Cancer Registry, now the largest in the world with more than 1 million cases entered.

* 1947: Developed multiphasic screening system. At the time, physicians were screening for certain diseases one by one.

* 1948 to present: Conducted three of the earliest studies linking smoking to lung cancer and other diseases. Three of his studies were cited in the 1964 U.S. surgeon general’s “Smoking and Health Report.” Also, was a member of the States Tobacco Education Oversight Committee in 1996, and is currently an expert witness in state trials against tobacco industry.

* 1952: Director of the “President’s (Truman) Commission on Health Needs of the Nation” study. Although the study was never implemented, health experts still refer to it as the “bible” for the government’s role in creating conditions for healthy living.

* 1955: Directed first state study of air pollution health effects. He was on Governor’s (Goodwin Knight) Committee on Air Pollution in California. Breslow established the first standards for clean air and for auto exhaust later under the administration of Gov. Edmund G. “Pat” Brown.

* 1960-65: and present: Developed the human population laboratory for Alameda County Studies for Behavior and Health.

* 1968: President of the International Epidemiological Assn.

* 1969: President of the American Public Health Assn.

* 1969: Outlined some essentials in a national program for child health. “Nobody paid much attention,” Breslow said. Now, however, public policy is focusing on children’s health care.

* 1975: Elected to the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences.

* 1977: With Anne Somers, outlined Lifetime Health Monitoring Program, urging doctors to have definite programs for patients, similar to those developed by pediatricians and obstetricians.

* 1978-1990: Founding editor of the Annual Review of Public Health.

* 1979-1981: Chairman of the U.S. National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics.

* 1980-82: Founding chairman of Board on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention of National Academy of Sciences.

* 1982: Outlined control of cigarette smoking for a public policy perspective.

* 1989: Directed national study on assessing progress against cancer.

* 1993: With son Norman Breslow and using data from Alameda County, demonstrated that healthy lifestyle predicts lessened disability as well as lower mortality rate.