Andrea Swenson, a research scientist at the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, is the new director of the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety.
The National Children’s Center is a program of the National Farm Medicine Center. It is also part of the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute. The center is nearing three decades of preventing injuries associated with the agricultural worksite.
Farming is one of the nation’s most dangerous occupations. The family farm also happens to be the only worksite where children may be present. As director, Swenson will take into account changes in agriculture and rural communities that may require new approaches to safety.
Swenson joined the National Children’s Center in 2019. Her research focuses on intersections between family dynamics, individual development, and social environments in agricultural and rural communities. She’s currently the principal investigator on a project researching the use of the Agricultural Youth Work Guidelines — a tool to help assign appropriate tasks for youth ag workers.
“Having been raised on a dairy farm and having family members engaged in agriculture, I value the complex labor that farm families and farm workers engage in every day,” Swenson says. “I strive to improve the quality of programs designed to increase the safety and health of those working in agriculture.”
Swenson is succeeding Barbara Lee, the only director in the center’s 27-year history. Lee rallied national attention to the issue of childhood agricultural injuries in the 1990s and was instrumental in establishing the center in 1997.
Lee now serves as the National Children’s Center’s associate director, providing administrative guidance as needed.
“Barbara’s work and commitment for safeguarding youth continues to save countless lives from death and injury,” Swenson says. “I look forward to her mentorship and guidance as we continue her legacy.”
