OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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The Portland Harbor Community Coalition reached out to the Community Engagement Core seeking expertise in non-target chemical analysis of ambient water after reading about the technology online. They were specifically concerned about unregulated chemicals that might be present in the Portland Harbor. The CEC connected them with EHSC investigator Manuel Garcia-Jaramillo, who has expertise is in non-target chemical analysis. Working with the PHCC, we collaboratively identified sampling locations and a sampling design.
We have identified a potential source of lead contamination in some Portland neighborhoods. Lead-sheathed telephone lines were installed from the late 1800s–1950s. Many of them have been replaced and removed, but some of them remain. Most areas in Portland do not have the older lead-sheathed cables as many of them have been, and continue to be, removed.
Matt Bozigar is an environmental epidemiologist with a multidisciplinary background. He studies multiple adverse environmental exposures (e.g., noise, air pollution, aeroallergens, radon) and health outcomes (e.g., asthma, cancer, cardiometabolic risk factors and diseases). Matt views environmental epidemiology through a geographical lens that emphasizes “place” and how it affects the health of populations.
In early 2020,Community Engagement Core Dr. Diana Rohlman initiated a collaborative research project with Beyond Toxics, an environmental justice organization represented by Executive Director Lisa Arkin. Their partnership aimed to address environmental health concerns in West Eugene, Oregon, focusing on a community impacted by industrial emissions.
Klamath County, Oregon has, unfortunately, high levels of adverse infant health outcomes such as preterm birth and low birthweight, and also experience heavy and long periods of wildfire smoke each year. Concerned that wildfire smoke exposure may be contributing to infant health, Klamath County reached out to the Community Engagement Core in 2021. The CEC and Translational Research Support Core (TRSC) built a team of researchers, public health officials and community members who collaboratively developed a research study to investigate these concerns. The team was successful in obtaining pilot project funding for their study, Wildfire Exposure and Infant Health. As part of the study, we co-developed an infographic in English and Spanish to aid expectant parents in ways to reduce exposure to wildfire smoke.