On Tuesday, April 4th and Wednesday, April 5th, PROTECT hosted the annual Northeast Superfund Research Program (SRP) Meeting at Northeastern University. This event was co-sponsored by the Boston University SRP, the Brown University SRP, the Columbia University SRP, the Dartmouth Toxic Metals SRP, and the Penn Superfund Research and Training Program.
The meeting began with an overview of the 6 centers followed by a session titled “Reducing Water-Borne Arsenic Exposure in the Northeast” which worked to provide examples of ongoing research translation activities by the Columbia and Dartmouth SRP programs, specifically pertaining to exposure to naturally occurring well-water arsenic in New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Maine. The second session of the meeting, “Community/Stakeholder Interactions,” focused on SRP community interactions as well as on resources that are available for public health education and action at one of the Superfund sites. The third and final session of the day, “How to Leverage Big Data for Environmental Science Research,” delved into some of the ways in which environmental scientists can best access and utilize increasingly large stores of data. The first day of the meeting concluded with a reception and poster session, which provided an opportunity for SRP trainees to share their work with Principal Investigators as well as other trainees.
PROTECT Principal Investigator Akram Alshawabkeh leading a brainstorming session on the second and final day of the NE SRP Meeting
The second day of the meeting included a session on “Diverse Perspectives on Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substance Contamination,” which focused on different perspectives on the health risks of PFAS, harmful toxicants that have increasingly been found in groundwater. The meeting concluded with a brainstorming session on ways in which Northeast SRP Centers can continue collaboration efforts going forward.
The Northeastern University team sent out a survey to all attendees following the meeting in order to gather the many ideas discussed to allow the NE SRP Centers to plan next steps. The results gained from this survey should provide insight into what the Northeast SRP Community is looking for next year’s meeting, which is expected to be hosted by the Boston University SRP. PROTECT thanks the NE SRP Centers and all meeting participants for making this meeting a remarkable success.
Learn more about the event at the NE SRP Meeting website, or visit the meeting’s twitter hashtag (#NESRP) here. Also, check out some of the photos taken at the event here.
A captive audience at the NE SRP Meeting for the Session 4 expert panel on “Diverse Perspectives on Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substance Contamination”