Episodes
In this episode, NIEHS-funded researcher Maggie Sugg, Ph.D., talks about how climate disasters affect mental health in youth. She also discusses some strategies to promote mental health resilience in young people and communities affected by disasters.
Published 05/02/24
Published 05/02/24
In this episode, we’ll hear from NIEHS-funded researcher Staci Bilbo, Ph.D., who studies how environmental exposures and stress, especially during early development in the womb, influence children’s brain and behavioral development.
Published 03/22/24
In this episode, we’ll learn how the NIEHS Pediatric and Reproductive Environmental Health Scholars (PREHS) program is teaching health care professionals about the many interactions that occur between children, pregnant women, new mothers, and their environment.
Published 02/26/24
In this episode, Ellen Hahn, Ph.D., discusses her work to increase radon awareness and testing in rural Kentucky and help residents take action to reduce their exposure at home.
Published 01/03/24
In this episode, Jane Hoppin, Sc.D., discusses how she helped launch a study to address North Carolina residents’ concerns following the discovery of PFAS in their drinking water. She also provides tips to reduce one’s exposure to PFAS in drinking water.
Published 10/05/23
In this episode we talk with Marilyn Howarth, M.D., who works with community partners to better understand the factors associated with lead exposure across Philadelphia. As part of a community project, she and the team created a map that combines socioeconomic, demographic, and soil lead data to show exposure risk across Philadelphia neighborhoods. Howarth discusses how the map can help decision makers identify and prioritize neighborhoods for cleanup and offers tips to reduce lead exposure.
Published 10/02/23
In this episode, Mónica D. Ramírez-Andreotta, Ph.D., discusses how participatory research can generate change in the social, economic, and political structures that drive many environmental health disparities.
Published 09/29/23
In our second episode exploring the exposome, Melanie Pearson, Ph.D., discusses how incorporating community perspectives into the exposome concept could help researchers better understand the totality of lifetime exposures and improve human health.
Published 08/08/23
In part one of our two-episode series on the exposome, Douglas Walker, Ph.D., will discuss how the field of exposomics is transforming environmental health research. Walker also talks about challenges in the field and opportunities for exposomic research to improve public health.
Published 07/10/23
In this episode, we’ll hear from Jeff Burgess, M.D., who has been a leader in the field of firefighter health and safety research for more than 30 years. Burgess discusses the health risks of firefighting and shares best practices to reduce occupational exposures and improve firefighter health.
Published 06/15/23
In this episode, we’ll hear from Jochem Klompmaker, Ph.D., a research fellow at Harvard University who led one of the largest studies to date examining the link between the natural environment and neurodegenerative disease risk. Klompmaker discusses how access to nature may protect against Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and the implications of his findings for creating greener communities.
Published 04/17/23
In this episode we’ll hear from Johnathan Levy, Sc.D., an environmental health researcher who has studied gas stove emissions for more than two decades. Levy discusses how pollutants released by gas stoves can harm health and the environment. He also offers tips to reduce indoor air pollutants and health risks associated with gas stoves.
Published 03/23/23
In this episode we’ll hear from Anna Goodman Hoover, Ph.D., a public health researcher at the University of Kentucky, and Nina McCoy, who leads the group Martin County Concerned Citizens. They are working with residents in rural eastern Kentucky who are concerned about high levels of disinfection byproducts detected in their drinking water. Hoover and McCoy discuss potential health effects of long-term exposure to disinfection byproducts and an NIEHS-funded community-engaged project to raise...
Published 02/22/23
When hazardous materials are spilled or released, specially trained workers must respond to minimize the health and safety risks posed to people, communities, and the environment. In this episode we’ll hear from two NIEHS grantees who are using cell phone-based technologies to enhance health and safety training for hazardous materials workers.
Published 01/06/23
In this episode, Sappho Gilbert, a doctoral candidate at Yale University School of Public Health, discusses her NIEHS-funded project to better understand how climate change and other environmental factors are altering food security and nutrition among Inuit communities in the Canadian Arctic.
Published 11/14/22
In this episode, Kari Nadeau, M.D., Ph.D., talks about how climate change and air pollution affect children’s health. She also discusses what health care professionals, policy makers, and parents can do to better protect kids from climate change- and air-pollution-related health impacts.
Published 10/10/22
In this episode, Laurel Schaider, Ph.D., talks about how PFAS exposures affect health and how communities can learn more about this large class of chemicals, including ways to reduce exposure.
Published 09/23/22
In this episode, we hear from Elizabeth Shapiro-Garza, Ph.D., from Duke University, and Veronica Carter, with the North Carolina Coastal Federation. They discuss “Stop, Check, Enjoy!” a campaign to help fishers in southeastern North Carolina understand the risks of consuming certain fish from the Cape Fear River. They also share tips on how to choose, prepare, and cook fish to reduce exposure to harmful contaminants.
Published 08/17/22
In this episode, George Bullerjahn, Ph.D., discusses a community science program in which charter boat captains and the U.S. Coast Guard work with researchers to collect water samples from Lake Erie. These samples provide NIEHS-funded researchers the robust data they need to monitor, predict, and mitigate harmful algal blooms.
Published 07/13/22
In this episode, we’ll hear from Rachel Morello-Frosch, Ph.D., who discusses how historical policies have shaped disparities in health and environmental exposures today.
Published 06/15/22
In this episode we’ll hear from Joan P. Packenham, Ph.D., who directs the Women’s Health Awareness program at NIEHS. She discusses women’s health disparities and why it’s important to include women – especially those from understudied, underrepresented, and underreported groups – in biomedical research. Packenham also talks about the program’s community engagement efforts, including the Women’s Health Awareness Conference, an annual event that brings women together to take control of their...
Published 05/18/22
In this episode, we’ll hear from Eri Saikawa, Ph.D., from Emory University and Rosario Hernandez, executive director of Historic Westside Gardens. They work with residents living in Atlanta’s Westside community to test their soil for lead and other contaminants and raise awareness of children’s health risks associated with exposure. Results from their urban gardening study led to the removal of lead-contaminated soil in Atlanta neighborhoods.
Published 04/13/22
In this episode, we’ll hear from Jessa Ellenburg, director of educational outreach at 2B Technologies. Ellenburg talks about why it’s important to get students and communities involved in citizen science and shares lessons learned from her more than 10 years in science education and outreach.
Published 03/21/22
In this episode, we talk to NIEHS-funded researcher Shohreh Farzan, Ph.D., and Esther Bejarano, with the community organization Comite Civico del Valle, who have teamed up to address local concerns about the possible health effects of the shrinking Salton Sea. They discuss a community-engaged research project that aims to understand how the rapid drying of the Salton Sea will impact local levels of particulate matter and affect children’s lung health. They also highlight how their...
Published 03/16/22