VCU to Mark National Public Health Week April 7-13

By Malorie Burkett

Virginia Commonwealth University's emerging School of Public Health will present a four-day lecture series for National Public Health Week that will address the impact of climate change on health at the international, national and regional levels.

The seminar series on "Climate Change: Our Health in the Balance," will take place April 7-10 at noon in the Hermes A. Kontos Medical Sciences Building, rooms 104 and 105, 1217 E. Marshall St.

George Luber, Ph.D., associate director for global climate change, National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will kick off the series with "Climate Change in the United States: The Public Health Response."

Other speakers include Janet Gamble, Ph.D., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development and the National Center for Environmental Assessment; and Elin Gursky, Sc.D., fellow and principal deputy for Biodefense in the National Strategies Support Directorate of ANSER Analytic Services.

There also will be a panel discussion on climate change and Virginia's response, moderated by L. Preston Bryant, Jr., secretary of Natural Resources and chair of the governor's commission on climate change.

Panelists include Michele M. Monti, director of the Division of Environmental Epidemiology in the Virginia Department of Health, and Michael Town, campaign director of Saveourenvironment.org, a national environmental organization.

Since 1996, the American Public Health Association has organized National Public Health Week and developed campaigns to educate the public, policy-makers and public health professionals about issues important to improving the public's health.

For more information on National Public Health Week events at VCU, visit http://www.vcu.edu/nphw/.