e-Newsletters

MIEH welcomes visiting Fulbright Chair Dr. Michele Morrone

Dr. Morrone is an Associate Professor of Environmental Health and the Director of Environmental Studies at Ohio University. She is a 2012 Fulbright Scholar at McMaster Institute of Environment & Health and the Department of Health, Aging, and Society at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. She will be on campus through the end of April, and will be presenting at the January MIEH seminar, and will be organizing a campus workshop on sustainability (information TBA).

Dr. Morrone earned a Ph.D. in environmental planning from The Ohio State University, an M.S. in forest resources from the University of New Hampshire and a B.S. in natural resources from The Ohio State University. Dr. Morrone previously served as the Chief of the Office of Environmental Education at Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. She has authored or co-authored more than 40 papers on a variety of environmental issues and has appeared on CNN and quoted as an environmental health expert in US News and World Report, the Detroit Free Press, USA Today, The Christian Science Monitor, The Columbus Dispatch, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. She has published three books Sound Science, Junk Policy: Environmental Health Science and the Decision Making Process (2002), Poisons on Our Plates: The Real Food Safety Problem in the United States (2008) and Mountains of Injustice: Case Studies in Environmental Equity (2011).

Risk Management Workshop

MIEH will be hosting a Risk Management Workshop on March 21 at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Hamilton. Come and work interactively with colleagues from all over Ontario on practical issues around risk management in public health. Share successes and challenges from your own agency’s work. Have hands-on experience of working through risk assessments and communication within a risk management framework. For more information, click here.

Bruce Newbold,
Director, MIEH
Professor, School of Geography & Earth Sciences

MIEH Seminars
All seminars are held at 12:30pm on the last Thursday of each month. Further details, abstracts, and updates are available on the MIEH website.

February:
Haiti Earthquake - Human and Environmental Impact
David McCann
Assistant Professor
February 24, 2011
12:00-1:00 pm *special time*
HSC 1J7

Click for more info ›

Happy New Year and welcome to the Winter MIEH newsletter!

No, you didn’t miss our fall 2010 newsletter – it didn’t make it off the presses. So, lots to update you with!

The fall of 2010 was a busy time for MIEH. In late October, we hosted a Visioning Retreat. Set at Canterbury Hills, it was a wonderful opportunity to gain input from various stakeholders, including students, faculty, and our new Advisory Board members. Following an introductory talk by Dr. Ross Upshur, participants were divided into focus groups to discuss MIEH’s mandates of service, education, and research. More on the outcome of the day will be forthcoming as we take action on various ideas.

The retreat was also an opportunity for MIEH to introduce its new Advisory Board, with members drawn from industry, NGOs, and academics. Advisory Board members include:
Theresa McClenaghan, Canadian Environmental Law Association Frank Harrison, US Steel and Hamilton Industrial Environmental Association
Rob Hall, Hamilton Public Health Services
Jim Hudson, Bay Area Restoration Council
Sara Edge, PhD Candidate, School of Geography & Earth Sciences, McMaster University
Dr. Brian McCarry, Professor, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, McMaster University
Evert Nieboer, Professor Emeritus, McMaster University
Ray Copes, Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion

It is also my pleasure to introduce Dr. Jim Dunn as the Associate Director of MIEH. Jim holds a Chair in Applied Public Health from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Public Health Agency of Canada called the Chair in Research on Urban Neighbourhoods, Community Health & Housing (CRUNCH – www.crunch.mcmaster.ca). He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health, Aging and Society at McMaster University and a Scientist at the Centre for Research on Inner City Health (CRICH) at St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto. He is also a Fellow of the Successful Societies program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the Deputy Editor of the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. He has been a scientific advisor to a number of policy-related bodies, including the Privy Council Office of Canada, Health Canada, the National Housing Research Committee of Canada, Peel Public Health, the City of Hamilton and the World Health Organization. His major focus is on investigating the impacts of neighbourhood and housing interventions on health and health inequalities. He has several projects related to the role of housing and neighbourhood in the production of social inequalities in health. Among these is a project investigating the impact of the redevelopment of the Regent Park neighbourhood in Toronto, one of Canada’s oldest and largest public housing developments, on adult mental health and children’s developmental health and competencies.

Finally, MIEH also welcomes Tasnova Shah. Tasnova is a co-op student from the University of Waterloo, and will be joining us between January and April, 2011. She is currently completing her undergrad in biology, specializing in microbiology and biotech. Previously she has had coop terms with Health Canada in the Environmental Health Program, as well as the Natural Health Product Directorate. She has hopes of pursuing further in the public health field. She enjoys volunteering and will be going abroad to Nepal this summer to volunteer in community healthcare.

Winter is shaping up to be a busy time, as we have a number of exciting projects ‘on-the-go’. In addition, MIEH is pleased to be a sponsor of the 2010 Upwind / Downwind conference, which will be held at the Hamilton Convention Center, February 21 and 22. Further details regarding this and our regular seminar series are noted below.

We have not, of course, forgotten about our research agenda. We continue to work closely with Hamilton Public Health Services on a series of projects, assisted with funding through the PHRED program. We continue to work on the Beach surveillance project which aims to better understand the conditions under which local swimming beaches are closed during the summer due to high E-coli counts. HPHS staff collected water samples along with other environmental information at local beaches throughout the summer of 2010. In addition to data from 2009, MIEH is responsible for data analysis and model construction. Future years will look at model validation and replication.

As always, we hope that you find these newsletters informative, and we welcome your comments and suggestions for future issues. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need additional information or have questions about our various projects. Also, please do not hesitate to forward this to others who you feel may be interested in the topics.

Bruce Newbold,
Director, MIEH
Professor, School of Geography & Earth Sciences

Upcoming Events

MIEH Seminars

All seminars are held at 12:30pm on the last Thursday of each month. Further details, abstracts, and updates are available on the MIEH website.
Click for more info >>

Recent Publications

Drackley A, Newbold KB, and Taylor C. 2011. Defining socially-based spatial boundaries in the region of Peel, Ontario, Canada. International Journal of Health Geographics, (open access publication) 10(38).

MIEH welcomes two summer students, both of whom join us for May – August. Sarah Campos recently graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Waterloo, majoring in Health Studies and Gerontology. She will be attending medical school at UBC in September. Sarah is providing research support to our on-going work with Hamilton Public Health Services, and will be looking at the efficacy of social media such as Twitter as a vehicle to deliver public health messages as compared to more traditional media outlets.

Kyle Empringham just completed his Honours Biology degree from McMaster University, with a minor in Geography and Earth Sciences. He is also the Co-Founder and Editor of The Starfish, a environmental news site (www.thestarfish2010.com). In the fall, he will be attending Simon Fraser University to pursue a graduate degree in Resource and Environmental Management. As a budding ecologist and environmentalist, he loves to learn about the issues surrounding conservation and biodiversity, and is excited to translate his knowledge into actions for the Hamilton community! Kyle has various duties over the summer, but will be working closely with the Bay Area Restoration Council (BARC) and their outreach program, including the ‘Don’t feed the birds’ campaign, as well as working with Environment Canada to assist with beach grooming experiments at the Bayfront Beach. Watch for Kyle in the area! Funding for Kyle’s position comes from the RBC Foundation.

MIEH will also be welcoming Dr. Michele Morrone as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar in the upcoming academic year. More details will be forthcoming.

We have not, of course, forgotten about our research agenda. We continue to work closely with Hamilton Public Health Services on a series of projects, assisted with funding through the PHRED program. We continue to work on the Beach surveillance project which aims to better understand the conditions under which local swimming beaches are closed during the summer due to high E-coli counts. HPHS staff collected water samples along with other environmental information at local beaches throughout the summer of 2011. In addition to data from 2009 and 2010, MIEH is responsible for data analysis and model construction. This year’s work will focus on harbour beaches. MIEH has also been working on bed bug issues. While not a public health issue per se, it has landed squarely in their lap.

Finally, the end of the academic year and the approach of summer means that our seminar series will resume in September. Watch future newsletters and the MIEH website for further details. As always, we hope that you find these newsletters informative, and we welcome your comments and suggestions for future issues. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need additional information or have questions about our various projects. Also, please do not hesitate to forward this to others who you feel may be interested in the topics.

Bruce Newbold,
Director, MIEH
Professor, School of Geography & Earth Sciences