Center for Occupational Health at the National Institute of Public Health. WHO Collaborating Center for Occupational Health.

The history of the Center for Occupational Health (COH) at the National Institute of Public Health in Prague dates back to the early 1950s. The Center was established on January 1, 1952. The first director of the Institute was Prof. Jaroslav Teisinger, M.D., D.Sc. (1902–1985), the founding father of occupational medicine in former Czechoslovakia, and the head of the first Czech Department of Occupational Diseases (established at the Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, in 1946). The establishment was originally an independent entity named “Institute of Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Diseases”. The departments of the Institute were initially located at several different places in Prague. In 1964, all branches moved into a new building, which was constructed on the premises of the Public Health Institute. Prof. Teisinger headed the Institute until 1970. In 1971, the Institute was renamed “Center for Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Diseases” and was integrated into the National Institute of Public Health (which, at that time, was called “Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology”), and Prof. Bedřich Švestka, M.D., D.Sc., was appointed the new director. Since 1988, the Center has been directed by Prof. Miroslav Cikrt, M.D., D.Sc. In 2003, it was given the current name: “Center for Occupational Health”. The Institute started in 1952 with a staff totaling 64 people. The number steeply increased insomuch that at the 10th anniversary of the Institute there were 227 employees, of them 73 graduates. The organizational structure of the Center was modified several times during its history in order to meet the changing needs of society. Its core elements were the departments for occupational hygiene, occupational diseases, occupational physiology, radiation hygiene, industrial toxicology, and for physical risk factors of work and the working environment. CENTER FOR OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC HEALTH