2022 Health and Environment Series
Speakers and Biographies
Vijay Limaye, PhD
Wednesday, February 2 at 7:00pm CT
Costs of Climate Inaction: The Health and Financial Burdens of Extreme Heat
View the recording of Dr. Limaye’s presentation here >>
Vijay Limaye is a climate and health scientist in Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) Science Center. As an epidemiologist, he is broadly interested in addressing international environmental health challenges—quantifying, communicating, and reducing the risks associated with climate change—with a focus on the public health burdens of air pollution and extreme heat. At NRDC, he leads economic valuation work to demonstrate the significant health costs of climate change and he works to defend the science that underpins the Clean Air Act. Prior to joining NRDC, he worked as a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scientist, focusing on Clean Air Act regulatory implementation, air quality monitoring policy, risk communication, and citizen science. Limaye, who also speaks Spanish and Hindi, has published several research studies on the health impacts of climate change-triggered air pollution and extreme heat in the U.S. and India. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a PhD in environmental epidemiology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is based in New York City.
Additional reading opportunties from Dr. Limaye:
Estimating the Health‐Related Costs of 10 Climate‐Sensitive U.S. Events During 2012 published in GeoHealth
Estimating The Costs Of Inaction And The Economic Benefits Of Addressing The Health Harms Of Climate Change published in Health Affairs
Bitter Pill: The High Health Costs of Climate Change (NRDC handout)
Patricia Koman, MPP, PhD
Wednesday, February 16 at 7:00pm CT
Health and chemical policy: What every health professional needs to know to make TSCA work to protect vulnerable populations
View the recording of Dr. Koman’s presentation here >>
Trish Koman is a Assistant Research Scientist at the University of Michigan School of Public Health Environmental Health Sciences department and the faculty research program manager at the College of Engineering Multidisciplinary Design. She leads community-engaged research to create healthier communities.
Trish draws on over 20 years of public service as a senior environmental scientist at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) working mainly to improve air quality. She was part of the leadership team for the US EPA's National Clean Diesel Campaign, where she initiated a partnership to reduce diesel emissions at U.S. marine ports and helped create the Clean School Bus USA partnership program to protect children's health. Trish managed multi-disciplinary benefit-cost analyses, regulatory programs, and technological innovation initiatives. Her air quality and policy analyses formed the rationale for setting landmark national ambient air quality standards for fine particulate matter, which withstood a challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court. She has been recognized with four Gold Medals for exceptional service to the country and an EPA Administrator award for excellence.
In partnership with community groups, Trish led an environmental education effort in Flint, Michigan. Trish received a University of Michigan Provost award for innovation in teaching. She was also recognized by the American Public Health Association with a Distinguished Service Award for her work with the Environment Section.
Additional resources from Dr. Koman:
Population susceptibility: A vital consideration in chemical risk evaluation under the Lautenberg Toxic Substances Control Act published in PLOS Biology
Toxic Substances Control Act and the Regulation of Chemicals: Q&A with Trish Koman
5 Years After TSCA Reform: Strengthening Health Protection through Science Panel Discussion featuring Trish Koman
Resetting the Course: Reducing Toxic Risks from the Environmental Protection Network (EPN)
To continue the conversation: Attend the University of Michigan webinar on March 8th - Making TSCA Work
Frederica P. Perera, PhD, DrPH
Wednesday, March 2 at 7:00pm CT
Threats of Climate Change to Children's Health and Equity: Benefits of Intervention
View the recording of Dr. Perera’s presentation here >>
Frederica P. Perera is professor of Environmental Health Sciences and the founding director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health. She heads the Translational Research Program at the Center. Dr. Perera is internationally recognized for pioneering the field of molecular epidemiology, utilizing biomarkers to understand links between environmental exposures and disease. For many years she and her colleagues have been carrying out longitudinal cohort studies of pregnant women and their children, with the goal of identifying preventable environmental risk factors for adverse birth outcomes, developmental disorders, asthma, and obesity in childhood and adolescence. Her recent research is addressing the multiple impacts on children's health and neurodevelopment of fossil fuel combustion--both from the toxic pollutants emitted and climate change related to CO2 emissions. She is the author of over 350 publications and has received numerous honors.
Additional resources from Dr. Perera:
Perera F, Ashrafi A, Kinney P, Mills D. Towards a fuller assessment of benefits to children’s health of reducing air pollution and mitigating climate change due to fossil fuel combustion. Environ Res. 2019.
Perera F, Cooley D, Berberian, A ,Mills, D , Kinney, P. Co-Benefits to Children’s Health of the U.S. Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. EHP, 2020.
Mary H. Ward, PhD
Wednesday, March 16 at 7:00pm CT
Nitrate in drinking water and health
View the recording of Dr. Ward’s presentation here >
Mary H. Ward, PhD, is a Senior Investigator in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch in the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) at the National Cancer Institute, Rockville, Maryland. Her research focuses on environmental causes of cancer, with special emphasis on nitrate in drinking water and pesticides in relation to the etiology of childhood leukemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, gastrointestinal cancers, and thyroid cancer. Dr. Ward develops interdisciplinary collaborations to develop new methods of exposure assessment for epidemiologic studies of cancer risk in relation to drinking water contaminants and agricultural pesticides using environmental sampling and Geographic Information Systems.
She has served on numerous review panels and committees including as Epidemiology Committee Chair for the International Agency for Research on Cancer Monograph review of the carcinogenicity of ingested nitrate and nitrite, on the Steering Committee for the International Childhood Cancer Cohort Consortium, and as the NCI liaison to the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Environmental Health and Climate Change. She was co-organizer for two National Academy of Science workshops on nitrogen and health and served on the Steering Committee for the Research Coordination Network on Reactive Nitrogen. She is a Fellow in the American College of Epidemiology and was awarded the DCEG and NCI Women Scientists Leadership and Mentoring Awards. Dr. Ward received an M.S. in Ecology from the University of Tennessee and a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the John Hopkins School of Public Health.
Additional reading opportunties from Dr. Ward:
In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by Wisconsin Environmental Health Network and SSM Health. SSM Health is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
SSM Health designates this live activity for a maximum of 4.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.