Global Health Day to focus on exposome

The exposome will be the focus of a research symposium happening April 6 as part of Global Health Day sponsored by the Office of Global Health Initiatives in the School of Public Health and Health Professions. Global Health Day also features a film screening that is part of SPHHP’s celebration of National Public Health Week.

The exposome is a complementary concept of the human genome. It encompasses life-course exposure from the environment, diet, behavior and endogenous processes, from the prenatal period onward, explains Lina Mu, associate professor, Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health.

“Exposome research could revolutionize our understanding of the underlying causes of disease and guide the development of preventions and cures for more diseases,” adds Mu, who also serves as director of SPHHP’s Office of Global Health Initiatives. “The exposome has a huge potential in global health because environmental factors are highly modifiable.”

Rosalind Wright, dean for translational biomedical research at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, will serve as keynote speaker for the symposium, titled “Exposome and Global Health Burden.” Her talk will focus on the exposome and its implications in global health.

The symposium runs from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. April 6 in Farber Hall G26 on UB’s South Campus. Anyone interested in attending the symposium can register on the SPHHP website.

In addition to Wright’s talk, a number of SPHHP faculty members will present at the symposium:

• Gary Giovino, professor and chair, Department of Community Health and Health Behavior – “Behavioral Contributions to Chronic Diseases”
• Lina Mu, associate professor, Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health - “Metabolomics in Exposome”
• Kasia Kordas, associate professor, Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health – “Metal Exposures in Women and Children: What Does Diet Have to do With it?”
• Jeff Miecznikowski, associate professor, Department of Biostatistics – “An Introduction to 16S Microbiome Analysis in Bioconductor”
• Xuefeng Ren, associate professor, Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health – “Environmental Health Perspectives on Global Inequalities: Multi-Generational Impacts of Arsenic Exposure on DNA Methylation and their Implications in Arsenic Toxicity”

Global Health Day wraps up with a screening of the documentary “Bending the Arc” from 3-5:30 p.m. in the Screening Room in the Center for the Arts, North Campus.

The film follows the doctors and activists that founded Partners in Health, on the ground in Haiti, Peru and Rwanda, in their fight for universal health equity and the right to health for all.

The film begins at 3 p.m. and will be followed by a discussion and refreshments. RSVP on the SPHHP Eventbrite registration site.

Global Health Day symposium is co-sponsored by UB’s Community for Global Health Equity. The film screening is co-sponsored by the department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health.