JSU hosts international symposium on environmental health
(JACKSON, Miss.) — Just weeks after Hurricane Katrina wrecked the Gulf Coast, more than 300 delegates from 22 countries representing five continents will meet at Jackson State University to participate in the Second International Symposium on Recent Advances in Environmental Health Research. The symposium will be held at the Regency Hotel and Conference Center, 400 Greymont St. from Sunday, September 18 to Wednesday, September 23, 2005.
“As we recover from the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina on human life and the environment in the Gulf Coast area of the United States, it appears to be the right time to host this important conference where stimulating discussions will be made on the potential impacts of natural phenomena on environmental quality and human health,” said Dr. Paul Tchounwou, symposium chair and deputy director of NIH’s Research Centers in Minority Institutions Program Center for Environmental Health.
“This symposium is a contribution to global research and education in the exciting fields of Environmental Science and Public Health,” continued the JSU Presidential Distinguished Professor and Biology Department chair. “Its over-arching objective is to promote interdisciplinary discussions and international scientific collaborations, as well as to increase awareness of important environmental and public health issues facing our state, nation, and the global community.”
Among the more than 150 scientific presentations across the disciplines of environmental health and biomedical sciences, attendees will focus on means to best use new research and available resources to protect the environment and its inhabitants.
Among the distinguished presenters are Dr. John McLachlan, director of the Tulane/Xavier Universities Center for Bioenvironmental Research, Dr. Joseph Landolph of the University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Dr. Stella Anyangwe from the World Health
Organization. Topics to be presented include Environmental Toxicology and Health Risk Assessment, New Frontier in Environmental Health Research, Health Disparities and Environmental Security, Emerging Topics in Computational Biology, and Environmental Modeling and Medical Geology and Human Health.
Marking the 20th anniversary of the NIH Research Centers in Minority Institutions Program (RCMI), the symposium has an important significance to JSU and other predominantly minority institutions that offer doctorates in the health professions and/or health-related sciences, said Dr. Abdul Mohamed, dean of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology.
Established in 1985, the congressionally mandated program initiated by the National Institutes of Health aims to expand the national capability for research in the health science by assisting through grant support.
Although JSU’s College of Science, Engineering and Technology has only had RCMI since 1998, it has resulted in the tremendous expansion of research in cellular molecular biology, environmental toxicology and computational chemistry. Peer-reviewed articles have risen from 59 to 217 and presentations have increased from 66 to 399 in 2005 alone. In the same year, faculty and students jointly published more than 90 papers and faculty members were responsible for the College receiving over 121 grants.
“This past year, CSET brought in $19.2 million dollars, the highest dollar amount ever,” said Mohamed. “Most of the funds went to support ongoing research projects. However, we were able to leverage those funds to hire additional faculty, especially visiting research faculty.
“The RCMI has been instrumental in assisting us in establishing multi-user core facilities with state-of-the-art equipment, giving us the research capability second to none in the HBCU community. This allows us to attract top notch research faculty in biology and chemistry.”
For more information about the symposium, visit www.jsums.edu/~sst/SYMPOSIUM/ or call (601) 979-2950.
