Since reporting to the Board in November 2003, the Environmental Health Committee has 1) discussed the development of environmental health competencies, and 2) participated in the planning and preparation for educational sessions at Preventive Medicine 2004.

Also included below is a summary of recent activities related to ACPM’s two cooperative agreements with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).  Two project advisory committees guide the activities under each grant.

Environmental Health Competencies

In November, Committee Chairs Ruth Etzel and Diane Matuszak requested the input of committee members on draft competencies related to the issue of certification of specialists in environmental health.  Competencies developed for specialists in pediatric environmental health serve as a model.  The committee, and other members of ACPM interested in this issue, will discuss it during a special interest roundtable at Preventive Medicine 2004.

Preventive Medicine 2004 Sessions

Several committee members have been active in planning and preparing for educational sessions at Preventive Medicine 2004. Three committee members participated on the planning committee for the meeting and two members will give presentations during two educational sessions.

Diane Matuszak will present during the session titled, “Environmental Public Health Tracking: Strengthening and Expanding Public Health Infrastructure and Capacity Through Dynamic Partnerships.” Dr. Matuszak is the Director of the Community Health Administration for the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.  With a state level perspective, Dr. Matuszak will comment on developing the environmental public health tracking system and describe the importance of establishing and maintaining partnerships and leveraging available resources to improve public health capacity and infrastructure.

Cindy Parker will present during the session titled, “The Health Effects of Global Environmental Change.”  Dr. Parker is on the faculty at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.  Dr. Parker will present on how biodiversity loss, climate change, ecosystem health, and global sustainability relate directly to public health.

Dissemination of ATSDR’s Case Studies

During last spring ACPM and ATSDR staff held discussions about translating one or more case studies into teaching tools and reaching out to teachers of preventive medicine and public health to disseminate these tools. ACPM’s Environmental Health Education Advisory Committee has selected the Pediatric Environmental Health Case Study in Environmental Medicine as its featured topic. The goal for the coming months is to distribute slideshow presentations and conduct a national teleconference with medical schools, preventive medicine residency programs, and schools of public health to publicize the teaching tools.  

To date ACPM has developed learning objectives, identified the target audiences, drafted a document that describes this project activity in-depth, developed the slideshow presentation, and secured an ACPM expert speaker and moderator for the teleconference.  ACPM selected this topic because it has wide-ranging appeal and provides a framework with which one can incorporate major concepts in environmental medicine.  The learning objectives highlight broad pediatric environmental health concepts, such as the variation in children’s susceptibility at different developmental stages, and information specific to this CSEM, such as knowing the signs and symptoms of mercury poisoning.  The teleconference is slated for May 12, 2004.

Educational Activities related to Iodine-131

ACPM and its I-131 Education Advisory Committee are engaged in several projects as part of a program to develop an environmental health education program related to Iodine-131.  Broadly, the activities are to establish a central source of credible, scientifically-based information on the facts and implications of I-131 exposure; and develop and disseminate educational information on I-131 to specific target audiences (e.g., physicians, other clinicians and public health practitioners), with a primary focus on communities surrounding certain Department of Energy (DoE) sites where I-131 is a contaminant of concern.

To meet these goals ACPM will launch a new website, www.iodine131.org, in the next month.

This website will serve as a gateway to medical and public health information and resources about radiation exposure from iodine-131 and related health effects.

Also in recent months ACPM initiated work on two new I-131 educational activities for physicians and other health care providers.  ACPM is collaborating on the development of an in-person educational session on thyroid disease and I-131 exposure at a local medical society meeting near the Hanford Nuclear Reservation Site.  The session will be held February 22, 2004. ACPM will make the session available to a national audience through an electronic archive on www.iodine131.org.  ACPM is also contributing to the development of an I-131 exposure and thyroid disease clinical protocol tool.