Research & Service

What:

 

“Healthy Homes and You”

A Community Forum and Scientific Session led by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

When:

 

April 13, 2010

Scientific Session: 2:00-4:00 pm
Community Forum: 6:00-8:00 pm

Where:

 

The Harlem Stage Gatehouse (outside City College)

150 Convent Avenue at West 135th Street

Are the allergens in your home putting your child at risk for asthma, wheeze, and hay fever?

Experts from the Mailman School of Public Health’s Columbia (NIEHS) Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan are hosting a Community Forum and Scientific Session that will answer these questions and others about the environmental impacts on human health with a special focus on exposures in the home.  Entitled “Healthy Homes and You” the forum is part of a series of open dialogues among the public, federal, state and local government officials, and environmental health professionals working on community exposures and other environmental health issues. 

The Columbia Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan and WE ACT for Environmental Justice are collaborating with the NIEHS on cutting edge research on key environmental problems. This community forum will provide an opportunity to broaden public understanding of the most pressing and key environmental problems of the nation and how best to solve them.

NIEHS Director Linda Birnbaum, PhD, will join Regina M. Santella, PhD, Mailman School of Public Health Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and Director of the NIEHS Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan in introducing the scientific presentations while Peggy Shepard, Executive Director and Co-Founder of WE ACT for Environmental Justice, will moderate the evening session.  The presentations and roundtable discussions that follow will highlight forthcoming research from the NIEHS Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan on indoor environmental exposures.  Additional participants will focus on work being done to improve indoor environmental conditions in Northern Manhattan and beyond.

"When people think of the environment, they think of the outdoors, but much of our research examines health effects for many substances found within the presumed safety of the home," said Linda Birnbaum, PhD, director of NIEHS and the National Toxicology Program (NTP).  "This is when science gets personal - knowing that our research can help communities and families prevent illness and disease."

 “We value this unique opportunity to host an event which showcases these hazards and provides a forum for Center researchers, peer environmental health experts, government health officials, community advocates, and members of the public to discuss issues relevant to these and other indoor environmental exposures,” said Dr. Santella.

Program

 

Scientific Session
2:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Welcome and Introduction

Regina Santella, PhD
Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health
Director Epidemiology Program, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center
Director Biomarkers Core Facility, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center 
Director, Columbia Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan

Presentations

Exposure to Mouse and Cockroach Allergen and How It Exacerbates Asthma
Matthew Perzanowski, PhD
Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health

Endocrine Disrupting Substances and How They Impact Health Outcomes of Women and Children
Robin Whyatt, DrPH
Professor of Clinical Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Deputy Director and Co-Director of Exposure and Biomarkers Core, Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health 


Air Pollution and Its Impact on Public Health
Patrick L. Kinney, ScD
Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and Director of the Program in Climate and Health, Mailman School of Public Health

Translating Science to Policy
Peggy M. Shepard
Executive Director and Co-Founder of WE ACT for Environmental Justice

Evening Round Table
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Welcome
Ms. Peggy Shepard

Keynote Address
Dr. Linda Birnbaum, NIEHS Director

“Protecting Human Health and the Environment in Communities Here in New York -- and Across the Nation”

Panel

 

Community Forum with the following panelists:
Dr. Joseph Graziano, Columbia NIEHS Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan
Dr. Linda Birnbaum, NIEHS
Ray Werner, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Daniel Kass, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Dr. Robin Whyatt, Columbia NIEHS Center for Environmental Health in Northern
Manhattan
Ray Lopez, Little Sisters of the Assumption Family Health Service

Closing Remarks