School of Public Health and Community Medicine - University of Washington - Aut 2008

Researchers, including Professors Elaine Faustman and Tom Burbacher, received approximately $40 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund the Pacific Northwest Center for the National Children’s Study.

Joel Kaufman

A new National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences funded center, Disease Investigation Through Specialized Clinically Oriented Ventures in Environmental Research (DISCOVER), will examine links between air pollution and cardiovascular disease. Researchers include Professors Joel Kaufman, Michael Rosenfeld, Sverre Vedal, Terry Kavanagh, and Research Professor Lianne Sheppard.

Research scientist Marina Guizzetti was awarded an NIH grant to investigate possible ethanol exposure in the developing brain in utero and the connection to selected neurodevelopmental effects observed in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

Associate Professor Pete Johnson received funding from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for two studies. One study will evaluate the computer mouse and keyboards as exposure assessment tools. The second project, a collaboration with Harvard University and Vrije University in the Netherlands, will assess the interactions of biomechanics and psychosocial stressors on work-related musculoskeletal disorders.

Darren Linker

Safety and Health Investment Program (SHIP) grants funded through the Washington Department of Labor and Industries were awarded to: Field Research and Consultation Group (development and dissemination of a training video for welders, targeting hexavalent chromium exposures); Continuing Education (OSHA courses for teen workers); Environmental Health Lab (best practices in production, testing, and sampling of breathing air used in fire departments and commercial dive companies); and Clinical Professor Michael Silverstein (aging workforce issues and training). Steve Hecker, Director of Continuing Education and Outreach, is contributing to an SEIU project funded by SHIP on safe patient handling. Darren Linker, manager of the School-to-Work program, is assisting the Washington Restaurant Association with a SHIP funded project to develop curriculum on restaurant safety and young professionals.

At the Washington State Governor’s Industrial Safety and Health Conference, Silverstein introduced the Aging Workforce curriculum that he developed with Hecker and Curriculum Developer Ken Scott. At the same conference, Linker organized an interactive workshop for high school students. Linker also received the 2008 Outstanding Service Award from the Washington Association for Career and Technical Education.

Clarita Lefthand

Clarita Lefthand, a doctoral student working with Assistant Professor Scott Meschke, was awarded the second annual Bullitt Environmental Prize.

Emily Cane

Undergraduate Emily Cane received the 2008 Cind M. Treser Memorial Undergraduate Student Scholarship. Named in memory of the late wife of faculty member Chuck Treser, the scholarship is awarded by the Washington State Environmental Health Association.

Graduate student Ryan Blood won the Best Poster award at the National Safety Council Congress and Exposition in Anaheim, CA. The poster highlighted research on whole body vibration exposures among transit workers in King County.

In October, the Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health sponsored an "Uncorking Ethics" forum: "Pregnancy, Prescriptions, and Pharmacodynamics: Researching the Risks."

In July, Professor Richard Fenske participated in a workshop exploring how engineering approaches can help address challenges in specialty crop production.

Jon Hofmann (MPH, Environmental and Occupational Health, 2004) won Best Poster for "Biomarkers of Sensitivity and Exposure in WA State Pesticide Handlers" at the "Health and Safety in Western Agriculture–New Paths" conference in November.

The Northwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety organized a professional development course, "Emerging Technologies in Occupational and Environmental Health," at the Northwest Occupational Health conference in October in Seattle. Session organizers included Research Industrial Hygienist Venetia Runnion, Senior Lecturer Emeritus Lee Monteith, and Lecturer Rick Gleason.

In July, Gleason presented on mold, lead, and asbestos hazards in construction to the Associated General Contractors, Seattle- Edifice Construction. He spoke on heat-related illness prevention at the Puget Sound Safety Summit in August. In November, he gave a presentation on preventing injury and illnesses to the Utility Contractors Association of Washington.

In October, Research Professor Gary Franklin presented "Opioids for Chronic, Non-cancer Pain: A Public Policy in Flux" at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH.

Matt Keifer and Evan Gallagher were promoted to Professor, effective July 1.

In November, an OSHA 10 course training was given in Spanish to 24 day workers from Centro de Ayuda Solidaria a los Amigos (CASA) Latina, a community-based organization in Seattle. Hecker, Professor Noah Seixas, and Research Coordinator Carlos Dominguez participated.

GLOBAL REACH

At the June Society for Risk Analysis Second World Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, Faustman organized a minisymposium, "Risk Assessment, Risk Management & Indigenous People: Legal, Scienti9c, Social & Cultural Contexts," and presented "WHO’s Mandate on Indigenous Peoples: Promoting Health and Human Rights."

A Japanese delegation of scientists representing the automobile industry met with NIH-funded Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and Air Pollution researchers, Professors Kaufman, Kavanagh, Vedal, and Adjunct Professor Tim Larson, to discuss air pollution’s health impacts, air quality standards, and policy implications.

In October, the Pacific Northwest OSHA Education Center hosted a signing ceremony with South Korea-based Samsung Engineering Co. Ltd., recognizing an agreement to deliver OSHA-certified health and safety training in its training facility in Saudi Arabia.

In October, Professor Keifer, Chair Dave Kalman, Associate Professor Bill Daniell, and Adjunct Assistant Professor Catherine Karr participated in the third International Scientific Conference on Occupational and Environmental Health in Hanoi, Vietnam. The conference addressed occupational and environmental health challenges in Southeast Asia and was sponsored through the Fogarty International Center and NIH-funded Collaborative Center for Healthy Work and Environment.

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