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The National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences
awarded $2.4 million to renew support for the Superfund
Basic Research Program led by Professors Harvey
Checkoway and Evan Gallagher. The Program first
received funding in 1987.
In February, the UW Climate Impacts Group (CIG) delivered
an assessment of Washington state to the Department
of Ecology and the Department of Community, Trade,
and Economic Development. Professors Michael Yost and Richard Fenske, Adjunct Assistant Professor Catherine
Karr, and Research Scientist Cole Fitzpatrick contributed
with assessments of heat events and air pollution. Karr
also presented at a conference hosted by CIG to discuss the
implications of the findings.
Karr and Industrial Hygienist Nancy Beaudet, both
with our Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit
(PEHSU), traveled to Vietnam, where they provided
pediatric environmental health training in venues
organized by Project Vietnam to more than 225 health
care providers. Funders included the Environmental
Protection Agency, UW Collaborative Center for Healthy
Work and Environment (CCHWE), UW Harry Bridges
Center for Labor Studies, and PEHSU.
Chris Simpson was promoted to Associate Professor
and Sally Liu was promoted to Affiliate Professor. Both
promotions are effective July 1, 2009.
In April, Professor Matt Keifer and Associate Professor Bill Daniell conducted a week-long researcher training
course at Burapha University in Thailand, part of a
year-long training and mentorship program through
the CCHWE. The Center is supported by the National
Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center.
The UW Northwest Center for Occupational Health
& Safety issued a report on workplace injury and
illness from 2000-2005 in the Northwest's four-state
region-Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska.
In partnership with the Tribal Solid Waste Advisory
Network and the Washington State Patrol, our Continuing Education (CE) Program conducted a "meth
lab" awareness course for the Quinault Indian Nation in
Taholah, Washington, to recognize abandoned sites that
have been used for clandestine methamphetamine
production.
In June, our CE Program also helped sponsor and plan
the "Nanotechnology Health and Safety Forum" in Seattle.
Professor Yost presented on the science of exposure
assessment.
In partnership with the Community Outreach and Education
Core at the Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental
Health and the Northwest Indian College, Outreach and
Education Manager Jon Sharpe administered a written
survey exploring environmental health from a Native
perspective to attendees of the American Indian Higher
Education Consortium in Missoula, Montana.
At the Society of Toxicology (SOT) meeting in March,
Professor Elaine Faustman, director of the Pacific Northwest Center for the National Children's Study (NCS),
presented "The importance of the NCS for toxicology
and for exploring gene-environment interactions." Also, Institute for Risk Analysis and Risk Communication researchers won two awards. "Cadmium-induced differential
toxicogenomic response in resistant and sensitive
mouse strains undergoing neurulation" was a finalist for
best paper published in Toxicological Sciences. "Computational
models of ethanol-induced neurodevelopmental
toxicity across species: Implications for risk assessment"
received the 2009 Teratology Society James G. Wilson
Publication Award for best paper published in Birth
Defects Research. Also at SOT, Affiliate Professor Steven
Gilbert and Phil Wexler from the National Library of
Medicine (NLM) established the first-ever Toxicology
History Room. Gilbert founded and directs the Institute
of Neurotoxicology and Neurological Disorders. The
Institute and Toxipedia, a wiki-website, received
funding from the NLM to establish the World Library
of Toxicology. The Institute also received funding from
King County to establish IPMopedia, a site focused on
integrated pest management and green gardening.
In April, the Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and
Health Center's Director of Outreach, Helen Murphy, led a workshop on ladder injuries at the Washington
Community Health Worker training, co-sponsored by
the Center.
In April, Lecturer Kate Stewart returned from Nicaragua,
where she was a Fulbright scholar and taught an applied
ergonomics course to working professionals at the Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua. Stewart also
participates in a sub-commission that provides guidance to
their federal government on instituting a national ergonomics
regulation as part of the country's health and safety
laws. Currently, no other developing country in the world
has measures to minimize musculoskeletal exposures.
In June, Professor Noah Seixas presented "Hearing
conservation challenges in the construction industry"
at the International Conference on Rehabilitation of
Deafness, Deafblindness, Language and Hearing Disorders
in Montreal, Canada. Also in Montreal, doctoral student Ryan Blood presented "Whole body vibration exposures
in forklift operators: Comparison of a mechanical and
air-ride seat" at the International Conference on Whole-
Body Vibration Injuries.
In April, Research Industrial Hygienist Venetia Runnion presented "Shipyard welders' hexavalent chromium
exposures: OSHA regulations & compliance issues"
to the American Equity Underwriters National Safety
Committee Meeting in Long Beach, California. In May,
she presented "Composite materials, carbon fibers &
nanofibers: Exposure assessment and control" at the
Boeing/ International Association of Machinists' Inter-
Regional Safety Monitor Training.
In March, doctoral student Rick Neitzel gave a talk,
"Evaluating dynamic exposures," to the American
Industrial Hygiene Association-Northern California
Section in Berkeley, California.
Six undergraduates from a national pool of applicants
were selected for the Environmental Health Research
Experience Program, a nine-week, summer experience
for students interested in environmental health science
research. Each student pairs with a faculty mentor (listed
in italics). UW undergraduates include: Mehak Aluwalia (Scott Meschke); Mark Crippen (Marilyn Roberts); and Kelsey Smith (Chris Simpson). Undergraduates from other
universities include Dominique Bibbins (Matt Keifer); Ashley Hammerbeck (John Kissel) and Anne Roubal (Lianne Sheppard).
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