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BREAK THE CYCLE 15

DATE OF CONFERENCE: APRIL 20-21 2020

BREAK THE CYCLE DIRECTOR:LESLIE RUBIN, MD

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: DR BENARD DREYER, DR SACOBY WILSON

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CONFERENCE INFORMATION

The conference will be held online.

There are no in person events for the conference.

Registration is closed

CONFERENCE INFO

Please email nathan.mutic@emory.edu if you have any questions

DAY 1
Monday April 20

8:30am-2:45pm

Keynote, Panel and
Poster presentations, Awards

For full schedule, download the Day 1 Agenda below

8:30 AM Program Opening

Abby Mutic, PhD, CNM, Co-Director SE PEHSU
Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University, Atlanta GA

8:35 Message from ATSDR

Michael Hatcher, DrPH, Chief, Environmental Medicine Branch, Divisionof Toxicology and Human Health Sciences,
ATSDR, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

 

8:40 Message from US EPA Region 4

Beverly Banister, Deputy Regional Administrator, Region 4
US Environmental Protection Agency


8:45 Introduction to Break the Cycle

Leslie Rubin, MD, Director, Break the Cycle Program
Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta GA

 

Break the Cycle 15 Trainee Presentations
9:05 Indoor lead dust concentration and children’s blood lead

Test results in Omaha, NE
Zijian Qin, MBBS, MPH
Mentor: Chandran Achutan, PhD, CIH
University of Nebraska, Omaha, Nebraska

 

9:25 Exploring contaminated private wells, drinking water, and childhood blood lead levels
Jasmyn Thomas, BSPH
Mentor: Andrew George, PhD
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

 

9:40 Health Break
 

9:50 BPA levels in Atlanta-area African American women: A tale

Of two communities
Tassia Drame, MPH’20
Mentors: Dana Barr, PhD, and Melissa Smarr, PhD
Emory University, Atlanta GA

 

10:10 Disparities in nitrate exposure among children in Nebraska

and adverse health outcomes
Balkissa S. Ouattara, MD, MPH
Mentor: Eleanor Rogan, PhD
University of Nebraska, Omaha, Nebraska

 

10:30 Standing with our neighbors: How community lawyering
can break the cycle of children’s health disparities
Hazel T. Rains JD’21 and Briana James JD’21
Mentor: Darcy Meals JD
Georgia State University, Atlanta GA

 

10:50 Health Break

11:00 Keynote Address

A roadmap to reducing child poverty: Improving the Future
of children living in poverty
Benard Dreyer, MD
Professor of Pediatrics, New York University, New York
Medical Director for Policies, American Academy of Pediatrics

 

11:30 Gentrification and disparities in healthcare utilization among youth

Naadiya Hutchison, MHS
Mentor: Genee Smith, PhD
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

 

11:50 Longitudinal association between the urban food environment and mass index in Mexican school children and adolescents
Yenisei Ramirez Toscano, MS
Mentor: Carolina Perez Ferrer, PhD, MSc
Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica, Mexico City, Mexico

 

12:10 PM Health Break


12:15 Virtual Poster Session and Lunch


1:25 Health Break


1:30 Measuring parenting dimensions and social and prosocial abilities in Adolescents from vulnerable families in Chile
Alejandra Núñez-Palma, MD
Mentor: Patricia M Valenzuela, MD, MSc
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

 

1:50 Legacy of discrimination in South Africa: Poverty, HIV, and child development
Sharon Kruger, DEd
Samantha Fry, MBBCh
University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

 

2:10 Summary Remarks
Leslie Rubin, MD

 

2:30 Awards Presentation


2:45 Day 1 Concludes

DAY 2

Tuesday April 21
8:30am-12:45pm

Environmental Justice Symposium

LECTURES

BREAKOUT ROOMS (4)
For full schedule, download the Day 2 Workshop Agenda below

8:30 Opening and Welcoming Remarks 

Leslie Rubin, MD, Director Break the Cycle Program 
Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 

 

8:40 Session 1: “History and Significance of Environmental Justice” 

Quentin C Pair, JD, Professor at Howard University School of Law, and former Senior Trial Attorney for the DOJ and EPA, who helped develop environmental justice practices and policies within the federal government 

Learning Objectives 

• Understand historical context of environmental justice 

9:10 Break 

9:15 Session 2: “Ongoing Environmental Justice Flashpoints in the Southeast” 

Brian Holtzclaw, Section Chief, Environmental Justice and Children’s Health Program, Strategic Programs Office, Office of the Regional Administrator, US EPA Region 4 

Learning Objectives 

• EPA’s role and approaches to advance environmental justice 

• Past and new environmental justice challenges in the Southeast 

Pre-reading 

Rubin, Dr. I. L. & Geller, Dr. R. J. & Teague, Dr. W. G. & Holtzclaw, B. & Felner, Dr. E. I. & Nodvin, J. T.; (2007). Environmental Health Disparities: Environmental and Social Impact of Industrial Pollution in a Community – The Model of Anniston, AL, Pediatric Clinics of North America. April 2007, Volume 54, Number 2 (pages 375-398), Elsevier Publications, Philadelphia, PA 

9:35 Session 3:  “The Intersectionality of Environmental & Reproductive Justice” 

Melissa Smarr PhD, Assistant Professor in the Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health at Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University 

Session Learning Objectives: 

• Understand the intersectionality between environmental exposures, reproductive health and environmental justice 

 

 

9:55 Break 

10:00 Session 4: “EPA Resources and Strategies to Address EJ Challenges” 

Tami Thomas-Burton, MPH, EPA-R4 Office of Strategic Programs, Environmental Justice & Children’s Health Section, Sr. Public Health Scientist/Regional EJ Coordinator. 

Learning objectives: 

• Develop an understanding of the agency’s environmental justice work and accomplishments in partnership with other federal partners, state/local government, nongovernmental organizations, and community organizations. 

 

10:20 Session 5: Breaking the Cycle of Environmental Injustice and Health Inequities 

Sacoby Wilson, PhD, MS, Associate Professor and Director of Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health, Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health, School of Public Health, University of Maryland-College Park 

10:50 Break 

11:00 Session 6: Environmental Justice Workshop 

Students, mentors, and guest speakers will be divided into workshop groups. Students will lead a discussion around EJ case study and develop recommendations for promoting environmental justice and reducing children’s environmental health disparities. 

 

11:50 Report back from Group Sessions 

BTC trainees will summarize discussion and report back to main symposium room. 

12:20 Synthesis and Call to Action 

Sacoby Wilson, PhD 

12:30 Concluding Remarks 

Leslie Rubin, MD 

 

12:40

Adjourn 

The conference will be held online.

There are no in person events for the conference.

Registration is now closed

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: 

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

DR BENARD DREYER

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Dr. Dreyer is a general and Development-Behavioral pediatrician who has spent his professional lifetime serving poor children and families.
Professor of Pediatrics at NYU, he leads the Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics and is Director of Pediatrics at Bellevue Hospital.
He is a Past President of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and is currently serving as the AAP’s Medical Director for Policies.

 

Dr. Dreyer served as a member of the committee that authored the new National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report “A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty”. For over 40 years he has led a primary care program at Bellevue, including co-located mental and oral health services and clinics in homeless shelters.
 

His research is focused on interventions in primary care to improve early childhood outcomes, including early brain development and obesity. As AAP President, he led the AAP’s Strategic Priority on Poverty and Child Health. Dr. Dreyer was president of the Academic Pediatric Association (APA), and founded the APA Task Force on Childhood Poverty and the APA Research Scholars Program.
He has over 100 peer-reviewed research publications.

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KEYNOTE SPEAKER

DR SACOBY WILSON

Dr. Sacoby Wilson is an Associate Professor with the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health and Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Maryland-College Park.  Dr. Wilson has over 15 years of experience as an environmental health scientist in the areas of exposure science, environmental justice, environmental health disparities, community-engaged research including crowd science and community-based participatory research (CBPR), air pollution studies, built environment, industrial animal production, climate change, and community resiliency. 
 

He works primarily in partnership with community-based organizations to study and address environmental justice and health issues and translate research to action. Dr. Wilson is Director of the Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health (CEEJH) Initiative. CEEJH is focused on providing technical assistance to communities fighting against environmental injustice and environmental health disparities in the DMV region and across the nation. 

He is a member of the USEPA's National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC), on the board of the Citizen Science Association, a past Chair of the APHA Environment Section,  past board member of Community-Campus Partnerships for Health, and a former Chair of the Alpha Goes Green Initiative, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He is also a senior fellow in the Environmental Leadership Program. 

Dr. Wilson, a two-time EPA STAR fellow, EPA MAI fellow, Udall Scholar, NASA Space Scholar, and Thurgood Marshall Scholar, received his BS degree in Biology/Ecotoxicology with a minor in Environmental Science from Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University in 1998. He received both his MS and PhD in Environmental Health from UNC-Chapel Hill.

POSTER PRESENTATIONS AND AWARDS

(VIRTUAL)

POSTER PRESENTATIONS

POSTER PRESENTATIONS

DAY 1

12:15-1:30PM

Conference attendees will have opportunity to visit four virtual poster sessions:

Zoom Links will be emailed to registrants 

(if you have registered but have not received links, please email nathan.mutic@emory.edu​)
• There are 7 poster rooms
• Each poster room will have two presenters
• Each presenter will have 10 minutes to describe their work followed by 5 minutes for questions
• Question and answer sessions will be held via the chat box function if a poster room has a large number of attendees
• Presenters in each room will take turns presenting according to this schedule:

o 12:15-12:30 Presenter 1
o 12:30-12:35 Transition
o 12:35-12:50 Presenter 2
o 12:50-12:55 Transition
o 12:55-1:10 Presenter 1
o 1:10-1:15 Transition
o 1:15-1:30 Presenter 2

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR POSTER PRESENTERS

• The deadline for poster submissions was APRIL 10

• Please download the application form and email it to nathan.mutic@emory.edu

• Poster presenters must submit a PDF of their poster by April 15

• Participants will present in a VIRTUAL POSTER HALL on DAY 1

• You must be available to present your poster and answer questions during the POSTER SESSION: DAY 1 12:00pm-1:30pm

• Presentation time slots will be assigned April 18

(VIRTUAL)
AWARD CEREMONY

THE VIRTUAL AWARD CEREMONY WILL OCCUR AT THE CONCLUSION OF DAY 1
Awards will be mailed after the conference
Winners will also be highlighted on the website 

The following awards will be given.
All conference presenters are eligible to receive an award.

Break the Cycle Award

Best Podium Presentation

Best POSTER Presentation

Community Engagement Award

LET'S BE SUSTAINABLE
LITTLE THINGS WE CAN DO EVERYDAY TO HELP REDUCE OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

SAVE ENERGY

Turn lights of when they're not in use

UNPLUG

Literally unplug electronics

(Figuratively UNPLUG from electronics- media, information, stressors

COMPOST

food waste to turn it into nutrient rich soil

BUY LESS

USE LESS

HOST A VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

Reduce the environmental impact of holding a physical conference:
travel, food service/waste, 
transportation, producing materials 

REPURPOSE

materials for crafts and projects

USE BOTH SIDES OF A PIECE OF PAPER

SAVE WATER

Turn off the faucet when you are brushing your teeth

Take shorter showers

RE-USE

As much as you can

Reduction and reuse are the most effective ways you can save natural resources, protect the environment and save money.

EAT LESS MEAT

Consider going vegetarian for 1 day, or week, month

(Globally, animal agriculture is responsible for more greenhouse gases than all the world’s transportation systems combined)

SHARE/DONATE

items you no longer need

APRIL 22 IS
EARTH DAY
SUSTAINABILITY

Children who grow up in circumstances of social and economic disadvantage are at greater risk for exposure to adverse environmental factors and are more likely to suffer adverse health and developmental consequences.

 

Break the Cycle supports an interdisciplinary set of student-driven research projects that explore the social, economic and environmental factors that adversely affect children’s health and well- being, and creatively develop strategies to reverse this situation to promote improved health and well-being for this group of children and, thereby, Break the Cycle of Children’s Environmental Health Disparities
(see the diagram).

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BREAK THE CYCLE

THE BREAK THE CYCLE PROGRAM

Break the Cycle of children’s Environmental Health Disparities is a program featuring students from universities around the country who will present their projects on strategies to improve the quality of life for children who grow up under adverse social, economic and environmental circumstances.

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