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Date: June 3, 2009
Contact: Jennifer Forbes
Communication & Public Affairs
Phone: 732-235-6356
Email: jenn.forbes@umdnj.edu
The Environment and Child Health
A Free Town Meeting for Scientists and the Public
The National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the Center for Environmental Exposures for Disease (CEED) at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute are among the hosts of a free town meeting that will provide educational and preventative information on environmental risk factors and children’s health. UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, UMDNJ-School of Public Health and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey are also hosting the event.
The forum is open to all and will be held on June 17, 2009 at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick. The program begins with a 3 p.m. afternoon session (registration at 2:30). The featured evening event starts at 5:30 p.m. with a poster presentation of scientific research and continues with panel discussions at 7 p.m. Free parking is available for the evening session behind Johnson & Johnson at 501 George Street, off Johnson Drive. The day’s agenda and directions can be found at: https://eohsi.rutgers.edu/niehs/news.html.
The afternoon session, presented in a lecture format, will feature faculty members from the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI), a joint institute of the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Although geared toward scientists, all are welcome to attend. Presentations will include:
- Heavy Metal Exposure in New Jersey by Michael Gochfeld, MD, PhD, professor, occupational physician and environmental toxicologist;
- Developmental Pesticide Exposures and Neurological Disorders by Jason Richardson, PhD, assistant professor and neurotoxicologist;
- Precocious Puberty and Breast Cancer: “The Jersey Girl Study,” by Michael Gallo, PhD, adjunct professor and toxicologist;
- Childhood Asthma: Improving Sampling Methods for Exposure Assessment by Kathy Black, PhD, MPH, an exposure scientist.
The scientific poster session and light refreshments begin the evening session at 5:30 p.m. Opening remarks for the panel discussions will be delivered at 7 p.m. by Linda Birnbaum, PhD, director of the Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), one of 27 research institutes and centers that comprise the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The panel discussions will feature high school students who are involved in the Center for Environmental Exposures and Disease’s Community Outreach and Education Program, as well as scientists and community advocates who will provide brief comments that focus on environmental science and policy, with an emphasis on intervention and prevention. Expert panel members will include:
- Daniel Wartenberg, PhD, professor, environmental and occupational medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School;
- Elyse Pivnick, MCT, vice president, environmental and community health, Isles, Inc., a nonprofit community development and environmental organization, Princeton, N.J.;
- Jane A. Hoppin, ScD, staff scientist, epidemiology branch at the NIEHS;
- Robert Laumbach, MD, MPH, assistant professor, environmental and occupational medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; and
- Ana I. Baptista, PhD, program manager, Ironbound Community Corporation, Newark, N.J.
The panel will be moderated by NJN environmental reporter Ed Rodgers.
An open discussion with audience members will follow the panel discussion. The program is free, but participants are asked to register at 732-235-4988 or e-mail: sph-csche@lists.umdnj.edu. Detailed information, including directions, is available at: https://eohsi.rutgers.edu/niehs/news.html.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences organizes local town meetings throughout the country to promote public health strategies on environmental health topics such as air pollution and respiratory disease, lead poisoning, asthma and pesticide exposure. The mission of the Center for Environmental Exposures and Disease is to understand how environmental exposures interact with host factors to cause human diseases, and to use this information to improve human health through education, outreach, and mechanistically based prevention, intervention and treatment. EOHSI supports basic and clinical research in environmental health sciences and exposure assessment and fosters associated programs in environmental health education and public policy.
UMDNJ - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
As one of the nation’s leading comprehensive medical schools, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in education, research, health care delivery, and the promotion of community health. In cooperation with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, the medical school’s principal affiliate, they comprise New Jersey’s premier academic medical center. In addition, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School has 34 hospital affiliates and ambulatory care sites throughout the region.
As one of the eight schools of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey with 2,500 full-time and volunteer faculty, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School encompasses 22 basic science and clinical departments and hosts centers and institutes including The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the Child Health Institute of New Jersey, the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, and the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey. The medical school maintains educational programs at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels for more than 1,500 students on its campuses in New Brunswick, Piscataway, and Camden, and provides continuing education courses for health care professionals and community education programs.
