Media Advisory: USGS Hosts National Conference on Human Health-Related Research

[Karen Renee Wood <kwood@xxxxxxxx>]

U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey

Media Advisory

For release: February 22, 2007
Contact: Brenda Pierce, 703-648-6421,
bpierce@xxxxxxxx

USGS Hosts National Conference
on Human Health-Related Research

What:      
 The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is hosting the 2nd Earth
Science and Public Health Meeting  

Topic:      
 Public Health Problems from Environmental Contamination and
Infectious Diseases

Where:      
 USGS National Center
        12201
Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, Va.

When:      
 February 27–March 1, 2007

The USGS 2nd Earth Science and
Public Health Meeting will foster collaboration between the public health
and earth science communities to discuss and find solutions to existing
and emerging environmental health problems. Scientists will discuss public
health threats affected by the relationship between people and the physical,
chemical and biological nature of our natural environments. 

“The USGS is the Nation’s natural
science agency and plays a significant role in providing unbiased, interdisciplinary
scientific information to help understand environmental contributions to
diseases and human health,” said USGS Energy Resources Program Coordinator
Brenda Pierce. “Understanding environmental contributions to emerging
infectious diseases and other health-related issues is necessary in protecting
public health.”

This meeting will focus on potential
contaminants and pathogens in air, dusts and soils; drinking water exposure
to chemical and pathogenic contaminants; human consumption of contaminants
that accumulate in the food chain; pathogen exposure through recreational
waters; vector-borne and zoonotic diseases; and animals as indicators for
potential threats to human health. 

Highlights will include keynote
speakers Catherine Skinner of Yale University and Jose Centeno of the Armed
Forces Institute of Pathology, as well as a number of scientific and technical
talks and poster sessions by USGS staff and other federal and state agencies,
universities, the health community and nongovernmental organizations.

For more information on this meeting
and USGS human health-related activities, visit http://health.usgs.gov/.

The USGS provides science for a
changing world. For more information, visit www.usgs.gov.
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Karen Wood
Public Affairs Specialist
U.S. Geological Survey, Office of Communications
703-648-4447
Fax: 703-648-4466
Email: kwood@xxxxxxxx