Oral

During the last 100 years, numerous legislative accomplishments have evolved from the environmental public health movement. Last year, the Nation celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Clean Air Act. This landmark legislative accomplishment provided regulatory standards for the quality of outdoor (ambient) air in the United States. Although the science behind air pollution research has advanced greatly since 1970, the translation of this evidence into policy and protective action continues to lag. This session will capture the challenge of multi-disciplinary air pollution and human health research that is required to sustain health in our communities. The moderator will introduce the session and provide a brief overview of the development of ambient air quality standards and the landmark Six City Study. Our first speaker will present the key findings regarding air pollution exposure and community health during her tenure as Program Manager for the New York City Community Air Study from 2008-2010. Her current EPA funding has allowed her to expand this work which includes the integration of neighborhood-specific data from various sources into a multi-factorial air pollution risk assessment program for the community. Our second presentation will describe the air pollution research findings which strengthen the association between air pollution and cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality among adults of all ages. Also being presented is the latest direction of air pollution research; assessing the relationship between air pollution and dementia. With numerous years of community outreach experience, our third presenter will discuss her grass roots efforts that engaged lay community health to effectively translate air pollution and human health research into non-technical terminology to both elected and religious leaders, health department officials, and community residents. Our last speaker will address the public health workforce crisis from the perspective of his position as the Assistant Director of Environmental Health at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Exacerbating this workforce crisis is the continuous attrition of public health-trained professionals. Among the topics to be discussed is how we (as the environmental public health leaders of today) can ensure the stability and sustainability of the environmental public health workforce of tomorrow.

Session Objectives: 1. Identify persistent challenges in protecting human health from environmental threats. 2. Formulate a trans-disciplinary approach to assessing and mitigating risk to human health from environmental threats. 3. Evaluate the utility of integrated environmental data at the ecological level and human health data at the individual level to predict adverse health outcomes to environmental exposure.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH) , Masters Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES)