Panel featuring veterans, advocates, and medical expert examined issue that affects an estimated 200,000+ individuals who deployed to Southwest Asia during the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars
This year’s Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Distinguished Speakers Series at Harvard Law School featured featured a keynote address by U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) followed by a panel discussion on burn pits and efforts to provide meaningful support and benefits for members of the military and veterans experiencing adverse health effects from burn pit exposures. Watch the event recording below.
The DAV Distinguished Speaker Series is sponsored by the DAV Charitable Service Trust, and hosted by Harvard Law School, the Veterans Legal Clinic of the WilmerHale Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School, and the Harvard Law School Student Armed Forces Association.
It’s estimated that more than 200,000 people who deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, and the region may suffer from chronic, and, in some cases, deadly health problems, ranging from lung damage to rare cancers as a result of exposure to burn pits—large fires the military has used for many years to dispose of garbage in combat theatres.
Research dating back as far as 2004 has shown links between burn pits and significant health problems. In 2013, Congress ordered VA to establish an Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry so that veterans could record symptoms and better track health data. Advocacy campaigns by DAV and other veterans’ organizations—in partnership recently with comedian and political activist Jon Stewart and a coalition of Sept. 11 first responders—have urged Congress and VA to provide those harmed by burn pits the care and compensation they need and have earned through their military service. This past November, President Biden—who has publicly blamed the death of his son Beau from brain cancer on burn pits—ordered VA to examine potential links between toxic exposure and rare cancers.
Sen. Gillibrand’s talk and the panel discussion touched on the significant adverse health effects of burn pits on thousands who served in the Iraq and Afghan wars, and efforts to pass meaningful legislation to take care of those harmed by burn pits.
Sen. Gillibrand was joined on the panel by:
- Shane Liermann, Deputy National Legislative Director at DAV; Marine Corps veteran
- Anthony M. Szema, M.D., a leading expert on the health impacts of burn pit exposures. Dr. Szema is Clinical Associate Professor of Occupational Medicine, Epidemiology, and Prevention, and Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine (Divisions of Pulmonary/Critical Care and Allergy/Immunology), Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. He is also Research Assistant Professor, Department of Technology and Society, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Stony Brook University.
- Rosie Torres and Le Roy Torres, co-founders of Burn Pits 360. Rosie Torres is the organization’s Executive Director. Mr. Torres is a veteran of the Iraq War.
Edward R. “Randy” Reese, Jr., Executive Director of DAV’s National Service and Legislative Headquarters and a veteran of the Persian Gulf War, provided opening remarks.
About the Speakers
One of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s top priorities in the United States Senate is to rebuild the American economy. She is fighting every day for more good-paying jobs, more products stamped with the words “Made in America,” and more new small businesses around New York State. She is determined to make sure that all New Yorkers have the opportunity to reach their potential, and she has consistently been a voice for the voiceless across New York and all around the country.
Throughout her time in the Senate, Senator Gillibrand has been a leader in some of the toughest fights in Washington. She led the effort to repeal the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy that banned gays from serving openly in the military; she wrote the STOCK Act, which made it illegal for members of Congress to financially benefit from inside information; and she won the long fight to provide permanent health care and compensation to the 9/11 first responders and community survivors who are sick with diseases caused by the toxins at Ground Zero. Senator Gillibrand brought Democrats and Republicans together to win these legislative victories.
Senator Gillibrand believes that accountability and transparency are essential to open and honest government. She was the first member of Congress ever to post her official daily meetings, earmarks, and personal financial disclosures online.
Senator Gillibrand is committed to keeping Americans safe from threats overseas and at home. From her seat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, she has been a vocal advocate for strengthening America’s armed services, national security, and military readiness. She has also called for an independent investigation into Russian cyber crimes against our government institutions. Senator Gillibrand’s bipartisan bill to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and make gun trafficking a federal crime – the Hadiya Pendleton and Nyasia Pryear-Yard Gun Trafficking and Crime Prevention Act – is one of the only recent gun bills to be supported by both parties and a majority of the Senate.
Senator Gillibrand is leading the fight to reform the justice system for sexual assault survivors in the military and on college campuses. In 2013, as chair of the Armed Services subcommittee on personnel, she held the first Senate hearing on the issue of sexual assault in the military in almost a decade, and has built a bipartisan coalition of Senators in support of her bill, the Military Justice Improvement Act, which would remove sexual assault cases from the chain of command. She has also built a broad, bipartisan coalition for the Campus Accountability and Safety Act, which would finally hold colleges accountable for sexual assault on their campuses.
As the mother of two young sons, Senator Gillibrand understands the challenges that working families are facing in today’s economy. She is a champion for the economic empowerment of women and working families, and she has authored new legislation to rewrite the rules of the workplace so it can keep up with our changing workforce. She is fighting to pass bills that would raise the minimum wage, make quality child care more affordable, create universal pre-K, and ensure equal pay for equal work. Senator Gillibrand also introduced the FAMILY Act, which would create a national paid leave program for all American workers – for about the cost of a cup of coffee a week.
Senator Gillibrand was the first New York Senator to join the Senate Agriculture Committee in nearly 40 years, and she uses that position to give New York’s farmers and agricultural producers a voice in Washington. She has fought for programs that would support specialty crop insurance, expand rural broadband access, and improve recovery efforts after natural disasters. She also continues to lead the fight in the Senate to protect access to healthy meals for struggling children, seniors, and veterans.
On the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Senator Gillibrand continues to support legislation that would fight to help New York’s businesses and families protect themselves against the devastating and increasingly common effects of climate change. She is also working hard to make sure that New Yorkers whose property was damaged by Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Irene, and Tropical Storm Tropical are getting the support and compensation they need to rebuild. After PFOA and other toxic chemicals were discovered in the water supply in multiple communities around the state, including Hoosick Falls and Newburgh, Senator Gillibrand has been leading the effort to demand cleanup and compensation from the companies that polluted the water.From her seat on the Senate Aging Committee, Senator Gillibrand is committed to fighting on behalf of seniors. She introduced a bipartisan bill to crack down on senior fraud, and she also wrote bipartisan legislation that would make price gouging of medicines by pharmaceutical companies a federal crime.
After attending Albany’s Academy of Holy Names, Senator Gillibrand graduated in 1984 from the Emma Willard School in Troy, New York – the first all-women’s high school in the United States. A magna cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College in 1988, Gillibrand went on to receive her law degree from the UCLA School of Law in 1991 and served as a law clerk on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
After working as an attorney in New York City for more than a decade, Senator Gillibrand served as Special Counsel to United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Andrew Cuomo during the Clinton Administration. She then worked as an attorney in Upstate New York before becoming a member of Congress.Born and raised in upstate New York, Senator Gillibrand’s home is in Brunswick, New York, with her husband, Jonathan Gillibrand, and their two sons, Theo and Henry.
Shane Liermann, a service-disabled Marine veteran, was appointed deputy national legislative director in May 2020 for the more than 1 million-member DAV.
From DAV’s National Service and Legislative Headquarters in Washington, D.C., Liermann provides expertise on issues regarding veterans benefits, advocates to advance legislation and policies critical to disabled veterans and their families, and works to safeguard current benefits and services for veterans from erosion.
A Nebraska native, Liermann joined DAV’s professional staff as a national service officer apprentice in 1998. In 2003, he was promoted to assistant supervisor of the DAV Denver National Service Office. Liermann served as assistant supervisor in Cleveland before being promoted to supervise DAV national service offices in Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and Nashville, Tennessee.
In 2011, Liermann relocated to Washington, D.C., to accept the role of assistant supervisor of DAV’s National Appeals Office at the Board of Veterans Appeals, where he served until he was appointed assistant national service director in June 2016. In that capacity, he was responsible for drafting DAV’s responses to VA regulatory changes as well as enhancing, writing and digitizing the organization’s 16-month apprentice training program and 36-month structured and continuing training program for DAV’s 260-plus national service officers.
Liermann is a life member of Chapter 10 in Arlington-Fairfax, Virginia, where he currently serves as adjutant and is also a member of the DAV Department of Virginia Social Media committee. He currently serves as the Chair of the Benefits Working Group for The Independent Budget.
In 2019, at the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims Fourteenth Judicial Conference, Liermann served an as an expert on the Toxic Exposure Panel.
Liermann resides in Dumfries, Virginia, with his wife Lynn and son Grayson.
Edward R. “Randy” Reese, Jr., a combat veteran of the Persian Gulf War, was appointed Executive Director of DAV’s National Service and Legislative Headquarters (NSLH) in Washington, D.C. in December 2018. In this capacity, he directs DAV’s legislative and service programs, which provide free benefits assistance to over 200,000 veterans, survivors and family members each year. Reese manages more than 400 professional and support staff at NSLH and 88 offices across the country. Reese also serves as DAV’s principal spokesperson before Congress, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the White House.
Reese has more than two decades of professional experience advocating for the men and women who served, having first joined DAV in 1995 as a National Service Officer and has worked in multiple locations around the country, including Kentucky, Nevada and California. He was appointed Associate National Service Director in May 1999, Assistant National Service Director in August 2000, Deputy National Service Director in August 2001, National Service Director in 2002, Deputy Director of Human Resources in July 2010, National Human Resources Director in August 2013 and Assistant Executive Director of NSLH in 2017 before his current appointment.
A nationally recognized expert on veterans benefits and services, Reese has served on a number of veteran-related federal advisory committees, including the Advisory Committee on Disability Compensation, Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans, VA Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Task Force, and the most recent VA Under Secretary for Health Search Committee.
A native of Bristol, Virginia, Reese enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1984. He was a rifle squad leader in the 82nd Airborne Division during the Persian Gulf War. Following the war, he served as an elite “Black-Hat” instructor in the Air Movement Operations and Jump Master Courses at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. There, he suffered a disabling back injury while conducting a night parachute jump in an airfield seizure training operation. Among his military decorations are the Combat Infantryman Badge, Master Parachutist Badge and the Meritorious Service Medal.
Reese earned his paralegal degree from Kaplan College for Professional Studies and is certified by the HR Certification Institute as a Senior Professional of Human Resources (SPHR) and Senior Certified Professional (SCP) by the Society for Human Resource Management. He is a life member of DAV Arlington/Fairfax Chapter 10. Reese and his wife Belenda currently live in Chesapeake Beach, Maryland.
Anthony M. Szema, MD, FCCP, FACAAI, FAAAAI, FACP, ATSF, is Clinical Associate Professor of Occupational Medicine, Epidemiology, and Prevention, and Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine (Divisions of Pulmonary/Critical Care and Allergy/Immunology), Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. He is also Research Assistant Professor, Department of Technology and Society, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Stony Brook University.
Dr. Szema is a researcher on four grants, including the first World Trade Center Pediatric Grant: 1) Site PI and Co-Investigator, Centers for Disease Control CDC NIOSH U01 OH011308 “9/11 Trauma and Toxicity in Childhood: Longitudinal health and Behavioral Outcomes” (PI C. Hoven, Columbia University). 2) Consultant, NIH R01 HL152385 “Childhood Mass Trauma Exposure, Inflammatory Programming, and Psychopathology in Young Adulthood” (C. Hoven and L. Amsel MPIs, Columbia University); 3) Principal Investigator, New York State “A Manufacturing and Technology Resource Consortium (MTRC) Supplemental Award Agreement” MTRC Project Number 20211012.1605 (his second MTRC award); 4) Principal Investigator, Butterfly IQ Resource Limited Study with Unlimited Cloud Storage.
Szema is Editor and author of World Trade Center Pulmonary Diseases and Multi-Organ System Manifestations (Springer International Publishing ISBN 978-3-319-59371-5); Editor and author of Unusual Diseases with Common Symptoms: A Clinical Casebook (Springer International Publishing ISBN 978-3-319-58951-0); author of Rogue BEE: true story of Lt. Col. Darrin Curtis who risked his career trying to stop burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan (Createspace ISBN 978-1450530323); and author of 15 Secrets for Getting into Medical School (Go to Yale without going to Jail) (Amazon ISBN 9798625229487).
Dr. Anthony Szema has published over forty-two articles in journals including: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in Practice, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Frontiers in Endocrinology, PLoS One, BMC Immunology, Respiratory Research, Annals of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, Allergy and Asthma Proceedings, Circulation, American Journal of Physiology – Lung Cell and Molecular Physiology.
His team’s latest paper discusses high rates of allergy and distal lung injury among rescue workers exposed to the World Trade Center disaster 17 years after exposure to Ground Zero. Three current manuscripts in preparation study: 1) spontaneous osteoporosis in vasoactive intestinal peptide knockout mice, 2) detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in lungs of soldiers and respiratory muscle weakness post deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan, and 3) hypoxia-exposed VIP KO mice manifesting accelerated pulmonary hypertension.
He is an Editorial Board Member of two journals: 1) Frontiers in Molecular Medicine—Molecular Mechanisms of Immune Disease; and 2) Clinical Internal Medicine Insights: Cardiology. He has reviewed for: 1) The New England Journal of Medicine, 2) European Respiratory Journal, and 3) Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
Internationally active, Anthony Szema, MD, is International Conference Program Committee Member for the American Thoracic Society Assembly on Environmental, Occupational and Population Health, San Francisco, CA, May 2022. He previously served as Chair, Women’s Health Committee, American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (ACAAI); Chair, Postgraduate Asthma Program Committee, American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP); and Chair for Seminars, Genetics, Molecular Biology and Epidemiology Committee for the American Academy of Allergy Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI).
Mentor and teacher to sundry students, Professor Szema teaches Hofstra University HPR 157A and 157B Field Experience in Community Health, Temple University School of Medicine block 6 Research elective, Stony Brook University EST 499 Research in Technology and Society, West Virginia College of Osteopathic medicine summer externship. Szema has served as thesis adviser for three recent Stony Brook University Physiology and Biophysics M.S. graduate students. Professor Szema teaches 4th year medical students Clinical Pharmacotherapeutics – Allergy at Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. He is a member of the Pre-Health Professions (Premed) Committee at Stony Brook University. He has Mather Hospital/Northwell health internal medicine residents rotate with him in the office and on inpatient consultations regularly and gives frequent lectures to these house staff.
As an advocate for veterans, Professor Szema testified: 1) in 2009, before the U.S. Senate Democratic Policy Committee the day before burn pits were shut down in Balad, Iraq; and, 2) in March, 2021, before the U.S. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on the Health Hazards of Burn Pits. Dr. Szema first reported new-onset asthma among these troops in 2007 and reported rhinitis in 2008. The Open-Air Burn Pits Registry Law signed by President Obama was a law based on a bill proposed by Congressman Tim Bishop, who cited Dr. Szema’s work. Dr. Szema was acknowledged as an adviser on The Problem with Jon Stewart for the inaugural episode on Burn Pits. Dr. Szema is the recipient of the 2013 Medical Society of the State of New York Albion O. Bernstein Award “For his life-long commitment to the field of allergy, asthma, immunology and pulmonary diseases and his dedication to the health of American service men and women.”
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Szema initiated vaccination clinics at St. James Roman Catholic Church and at Comsewogue High School with internal medicine senior residents and chief residents from Mather Hospital/Northwell Health. Prior to the pandemic, in 2019 and 2020, he and his students served as medics for the 7th and 8th International Manhattan Open Tae Kwon Do Tournaments at Baruch College, NY, NY as well as at Regional Black Belt Promotion examinations.
In 2021, Dr. Anthony Szema was cited in Stars and Stripes, Newsday, WKLAS-TB Las Vegas, Neue Zurcher Zeitung(Swiss newspaper in German), E&E News Greenwire. He was interviewed by Megan Stack for the Sunday New York Times Magazine January 16, 2022 on the background behind burn pits research.
A native of upstate NY, Szema was the Hugh O’Brian Youth Foundation Most Outstanding Sophomore at Niskayuna High School and earned his B.S. in Industrial and Management Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, NY where he was Editor-In-Chief of the Rensselaer Engineer magazine (ranked #3 in U.S. according to the Engineering College Magazines Association). Dr. Szema earned his M.D. from Albany Medical College, Albany, NY, and completed an internship in medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview, residency in internal medicine at Hahnemann University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA, and three fellowships and postdoctoral research at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, NY Presbyterian Hospital Columbia Campus, in pulmonary diseases, critical care medicine, clinical adult and pediatric allergy/immunology, and rheumatology/immunology research.
Le Roy Torres is Co-founder of Burn Pits 360 Veterans organization, a 501c3 non-profit whose mission is to educate, equip, and empower individuals by networking with those affected by toxic exposure through our own experiences allowing us to set the pathway to justice through advocacy, outreach, and research efforts. Our goal is to establish policy reform, treatment- based solutions and resources for specialized healthcare through accessing real time data from the Burn Pits 360 independent registry.
Le Roy served a one-year tour in Balad, Iraq. He was medically retired from the Army after 23 years of service with the rank of Captain following his diagnosis of a war lung disease and Toxic Brain Injury similar to CTE brain disease found in NFL football players. He served in the Army 7 years active and 16 years in the Army Reserve. Torres also worked as a State Trooper for the Texas Dept. of Public Safety – Highway Patrol after a forced medical discharge following his 14 years of state service. Torres earned his B.A. and M.A. in Administration – Organizational Development at the University of the Incarnate Word.
Le Roy is an ardent advocate alongside his wife Rosie Torres who advocates on behalf of Veterans and their families battling illnesses associated with the effects of environmental toxic exposure from the Burn Pits utilized during combat operations in the Middle East. Le Roy volunteers in the operation of Burn Pits 360 National Headquarters also known as the Warrior Support Center located in Robstown, Texas. Our grassroots efforts include the 2013 Open Burn Pit Registry bill 112-260 signed by President Obama and the Texas Service Member and Veteran Open Burn Pit Registry Act (HB 306) signed by Governor Abbott in 2019.
Le Roy is also passionate about assisting others that are battling not only medical conditions from exposure; but also include those facing battles with invisible wounds, job loss, and other challenges that arise from such hardships that have taken a toll on so many Veterans, Citizen-Soldiers and their families.
Community Awards & Recognitions:
- Army Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal – August 2008
- Knights of Columbus Community Outstanding Award – September 2018
- United Chamber of Commerce – Corpus Christi Best in the Biz Military Veteran Entrepreneurship Award – December 2018
Rosie is Co-founder and Executive Director of Burn Pits 360 Veterans organization, a 501c3 non-profit based out of Robstown, Texas whose mission is to educate, equip, and empower individuals by networking with those affected by toxic exposure through our own experiences allowing us to set the pathway to justice through advocacy, outreach, and research efforts. Our goal is to establish policy reform, treatment- based solutions and resources for specialized healthcare through accessing real time data from the Burn Pits 360 independent registry.
After spending twenty-three years at the Department of Veteran Affairs, she brings her professional experience to serve veterans through the organization Burn Pits 360. Advocating for veterans affected by toxic wounds of war and their families.
Having always been a passionate supporter of the military, Rosie watched her husband struggle as they were personally impacted by injustices at the hands of the government through delay and denial and after her husband was forced to resign from his state trooper position of 14 years due to war-related illnesses. Subsequently, in 2010, she and her husband founded Burn Pits 360 to create a community of advocates and affected individuals to support and connect with one another. Through the organization’s grassroots advocacy, they have partnered with high profile organizations, researchers, medical specialists, veteran entrepreneurs, the 9/11 community and actor Jon Stewart to bring awareness to these issues plaguing many veterans today.
She was an important part of passing legislation leading to the creation of VA Airborne Hazards Open Burn Pit Registry Bill 112-260 signed by President Obama in 2013 and successfully passing legislation for the Texas Service Member and Veteran Open Burn Pit Registry Act (HB 306) signed by Governor Abbott in 2019. Her advocacy has also helped shape national policy regarding Toxic Exposures at The VA and Department of Defense.
Rosie continues to work vigorously with her husband to ensure other veterans are not left behind or forgotten by the government or country they have sacrificed so much for as many continue to battle “the war that followed us home.”
Community Awards & Recognitions:
- American GI Forum Women’s Community Chapter Recognition – February 2021
About the DAV Distinguished Speaker Series
Previous speakers in the DAV Speaker Series have included Hon. Robert Davis, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims; Dr. David Shulkin, Secretary of VA; Ray Mabus, Secretary of the Navy; Robert McDonald, Secretary of VA; Hon. Robert Russell, founder of the nation’s first veterans treatment court; Lieutenant Colonel Shannon McLaughlin, the lead plaintiff in a federal lawsuit demanding that partners and family members of LGBTQ military service members and veterans receive the same benefits as those of heterosexual service members; Delphine Metcalf-Foster, National Commander of the Disabled American Veterans, and the first woman to hold that position at DAV, a one-million-member veterans services organization; Barbara Ward, former Director of VA Center for Minority Veterans; Christopher Parker, a Navy veteran and Professor of Political Science at the University of Washington; and Will Gunn, HLS ’86, the former general counsel for the US Department of Veterans Affairs and first-ever chief defense counsel in the Department of Defense Office of Military Commissions, which was charged with representing prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Read more about the work the Veterans Legal Clinic here.