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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Patrick Kinney, ScD, Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health, 60 Haven Avenue, B-116, New York, NY 10032, 212-304-7280, plk3@columbia.edu
Residents of the New York City communities of Harlem and Washington Heights are exposed to a multitude of environmental toxicants both indoors and outdoors, and have been concerned for many years about the role these environmental exposures may play in the high rates of respiratory disease with which their community is burdened. However, the lack of hard data on exposure levels in the community has hindered efforts to advocate for change. From a scientific perspective, important gaps exist in knowledge of both exposures and diseases in the community which could lead naturally to productive research initiatives. However, without direct community involvement, meaningful research studies addressing environmental hazards in Harlem and Washington Heights would not be feasible. From these twin motivations, research partnerships have developed between our environmental center and local community groups to gather important data on community exposures. Three recent community-based studies of diesel traffic and associated personal exposures to PM2.5 and black carbon will be discussed, both from the point of view of scientific findings and with respect to the process and challenges of community-based research.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Community Research, Environmental Exposures
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.