UB to Host Global Conference on Environmental Health

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Experts in environmental health from around the globe will convene in Buffalo for 10 days in August to present the latest research in the field and to assess the worldwide disease burden caused by environmental problems.

The primary venue for the 12th conference of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology, to be held Aug. 19-23, will be the Adam's Mark Hotel and Resort in downtown Buffalo. The Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University at Buffalo is the conference host.

Titled "Environmental Epidemiology in Pan America and the World: Building Connections," the conference is coming to Buffalo to commemorate the centennial of the Pan-American Exposition.

Mauricio Pardon-Ojeda, Ph.D., director of the Division of Health and Environment, Pan American Health Organization, will be the keynote speaker. More than 500 research papers and posters are scheduled for presentation.

John Vena, Ph.D., professor and associate chair of the UB Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, is conference chair.

Immediately following the conference, the World Health Organization (WHO) will hold a two-day, invitation-only "expert consultation" on how to assess the burden of disease on the public health resulting from environmental problems. The United States will be represented by experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Also attending will be representatives from the Center of Research in Environment Health, United Kingdom; the National Institute of Health, Epidemiology and Microbiology, Cuba; National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, The Netherlands; the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and its regional office for Europe, plus experts from UB, the University of California-Berkeley and the University of South Carolina.

Prior to the conference, the Inter American Network of Health in Housing Centers will meet for a three-day symposium. The network is organized and sponsored by the Pan American Health Organization, with the goal of fostering collaboration among centers throughout the Americans that address disease resulting from substandard housing.

UB administers one of the 10 Health in Housing Centers that operate in North, Central and South America. Others are located in Bolivia, Cuba, Chile, Mexico, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, which has two.

Maurizio Trevisan, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, directs the UB center.