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Community Engagement Core (CEC)

Mission

The mission of the Community Engagement Core (CEC) of the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) is to engage communities, health care professionals, decision makers, and individuals  in a collaborative process  to select problems that CEET research teams and its network with other Environmental Health Science Core Centers can investigate to provide tools that will eliminate or mitigate adverse public health impacts to vulnerable populations.

Howarth

Marilyn Howarth, MD, FACOEM
Director

Phone: 215-808-2165
E-mail: howarthmv@gmail.com

Dr. Marilyn Howarth’s career in Public Health began when she was an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer at the Centers of Disease Control in Atlanta.  While an EIS officer she worked with communities and government agencies to investigate and tackle occupational and environmental problems.  After leaving the CDC, Dr. Howarth worked with Cooper Hospital in Camden, NJ re-shaping their Occupational Health efforts by reaching out to employers to provide medical services to their workers.  In 1995 she joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania as the Director of Consultation Services for the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.  In that role, she published papers, taught courses, performed worksite evaluations and helped patients and communities with the effects of environmental exposures. Dr. Howarth has extensive experience evaluating and treating patients with exposure to heavy metals, solvents, mold, respiratory allergens and irritants, and musculoskeletal trauma. Dr. Howarth has participated with CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, the National Institutes of Health and the Camden County Technical Advisory Board to work on topics as diverse as latex allergy, the health effects of air pollution, and lead and radiological contamination. She is a past president of the Pennsylvania Occupational and Environmental Medical Society and a former member of the Board of Directors of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.  She is currently a member of the PHILAPOSH Technical Advisory Board, which helps unions with concerns about exposures on the job.  She is a founding professor of the University of Pennsylvania’s Masters in Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health course and provides educational programs on Environmental Health topics to community and employee groups.

Pepino

Richard Pepino, MS, MSS 

Lecturer
E-mail: rpepino@sas.upenn.edu

Mr. Pepino is Coordinator of the Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) courses in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.  Mr. Pepino has Master’s degrees in Biology and Science Education, and is Director of the Public Policy Program at Franklin and Marshall College.  Previously he spent 25 years with US EPA Region III, where he was Director of Strategic Planning, Chief of Environmental Impact Analysis, and Associate Director of the Office of Watersheds.  His interests include public policy related to environmental health and alternative teaching methods in urban public education.

Adrian Wood, MPH
Program Coordinator
Phone: 215-898-6221
E-mail: adrianlw@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Ms. Wood has had a longstanding interest in environmental health and community engagement which strengthened as she came to Philadelphia as a graduate student practicing public health. She has worked in fostering partnerships around the greater Philadelphia area as the Program Coordinator of the Community Engagement Core. Ms. Wood has a B.S. in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Masters of Public Health from the University of Pennsylvania. 

CEC Members

Table 1: Stakeholder Advisory Board: University and CEET Members

Board Member:Affiliation:Thematic Area:
Maria Andrews, MSAssociate Director of Undergraduate Programs, Department of Earth and Environmental ScienceCommunity Engagement
Andrea Apter, MD, MScChief, Allergy and Immunology Section, Presbyterian Medical Center, Professor of Medicine, Perelman School of MedicineAir Pollution & Lung Health, Community Engagement,
Fran Barg, PhD, MEdProfessor, Family Medicine & Community Health, Perelman School of MedicineEnvironmental Exposures and Cancer, Community Engagement
Michael Beers, MDProfessor of Medicine, Section of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care, Perelman School of Medicine, Leader, CEETAir Pollution & Lung Health, Community Engagement,
Ian A. Blair, PhD A.N. Richards Professor of Pharmacology
Investigator, Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Environmental Exposures and Cancer thematic area lead
Environmental Exposures and Cancer
Marisa S. Bartolomei, PhDPerelman Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, Perelman School of Medicine. Windows-of-Susceptibility thematic area leadWindows-of-Susceptibility
Jeffrey Field, PhDProfessor of Pharmacology, Director, TREES Program, Perelman School of Medicine,  CEETCommunity Engagement
George Gerton, PhDResearch Professor of Reproductive Biology in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Perelman School of Medicine, CEETWindows of Susceptibility, Community Engagement
Ira Harkavy, PhDFounding Director and Associate Vice President at Netter Center for Community- Campus PartnershipsCommunity Engagement
Marilyn Howarth, MD, FACOEMAdjunct Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pharmacology, Perelman School of Medicine, Director, Community Engagement Core, CEETAir Pollution & Lung Health, Environmental Exposures and Cancer, Windows of Susceptibility, Environmental Neuroscience, Community Engagement
Michael Z. Levy, PhDAssociate Professor of Epidemiology, Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Perelman School of MedicineCommunity Engagement
Jianghong Liu, PhD, RN, FAANDirector of the NIH-funded China Jintan Child Health Project, Associate Professor of Nursing, Associate Professor of Public Health, Perelman School of MedicineEnvironmental Neuroscience, Community Engagement
 Sharon McGrath-Morrow, MBA, MDProfessor of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Air Pollution & Lung Health thematic area leadAir Pollution & Lung Health
Howard Neukrug, PE, BCEE, D.WREExecutive Director of The Water Center, Professional Practice Professor of Global Water Leadership, Earth and Environmental Science Department, University of PennsylvaniaCommunity Engagement
Kevin Osterhoudt, MD, MSCE, FAAP, FAACT, FACMTProfessor of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine, Medical Director of the Poison Control Center, Emergency Medicine Attending Physician, The Children’s Hospital of PhiladelphiaEnvironmental Neuroscience
Trevor Penning, PhDThe Thelma Brown and Henry Charles Molinoff Professor of Pharmacology, Professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics and OB/GYN, Director Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology, Perelman School of MedicineAir Pollution & Lung Health, Environmental Exposures and Cancer, Windows of Susceptibility, Community Engagement
Richard Pepino, MS, MSSAdjunct Faculty, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, School of Arts & Sciences, Lecturer, Community Engagement Core, CEETWindows of Susceptibility, Environmental Neuroscience, Community Engagement
Jennifer Pinto-Martin, PhD, MPHViola MacInnes/Independence Professor of Nursing, MPH Program DirectorEnvironmental Neuroscience
Pouné Saberi, MD, MPHClinical Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, Director, Philadelphia VA Medical Center Occupational HealthCommunity Engagement
Rebecca Simmons, MD Professor of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine, Deputy Director, CEET Environmental Neuroscience, Community Engagement
Adrian Wood, MPHProgram Coordinator, Community Engagement Core, CEETCommunity Engagement
Anil Vachani, MD, MSAssociate Professor of Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Veteran’s Administration Medical Center, Director, Integrative Health Sciences Facility Core, CEETEnvironmental Exposures and Cancer
Sigrid C. Veasey, M.D.Professor of Medicine, Perelman Schools of Medicine. Environmental Neuroscience thematic Area lead. Environmental Neuroscience

Table 2: Stakeholder Advisory Board: External Members (Representing Target Audiences)

Board Member: Area of Expertise: Affiliation:
Susan Baldridge, M.Ed. Community Stakeholder Executive Director,  Partnership for Public Health, Lancaster, PA
Samantha (Fairchild) Beers, Esq. Policy Maker Director, U. S. EPA Mid-Atlantic Region, Office of Enforcement, Compliance and Environmental Justice
Tyra Bryant-Stephens, MD Health Care Provider Director, Community Asthma Prevention Program, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Margaret Cobb Community Stakeholder Eastwick Lower Darby Creek Area Community Advisory Group, Eastwick-Philadelphia, PA
Jana Curtis Community Stakeholder Resident of Fishtown, Philadelphia
Frank Finan   Community Stakeholder Resident of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania
Maurice SampsonCommunity StakeholderClean Water Action, Philadelphia
Donna Henry, MS Community  Stakeholder Director, Southwest Community Development Corporation, Philadelphia
Jeffrey Martin, MD Health Care Provider   Chair, Lancaster Lead Coalition, Residency Director, Family and Community Medicine, Lancaster General Hospital
Joseph Otis Minott, JD Policy Maker Executive Director, Clean Air Council
Dalton Paxman, PhD Public Health Decision Maker Regional Health Administrator (RHA) for the mid-Atlantic region, US Department of Health and Human Services
Kassahun Sellassie, PhD P.E. Policy Maker Director, Air Management Services, City of Philadelphia
Jerome Shabazz, MS Community Stakeholder Executive Director, Overbrook Environmental Education Center
Sachin Shankar,  P.E.   Policy Maker Assistant Regional Director, PA Department of Environmental Protection Region 3
Rev. Horace Strand Community Stakeholder Chairman, Chester Environmental Partnership, Chester, PA
Lora Werner, MPH Policy Maker Deputy Director, Department of Health, Delaware County
Earl WilsonCommunity StakeholderPresident, Eastwick Friends & Neighbors Coalition
Alice Wright- Bailey Community Stakeholder Executive Director, Chester Environmental Partnership, Chester, PA
Sharon VargasCommunity StakeholderAmbler Community Advisory Group, Ambler, PA
Anil Nair, MD, MPH
Policy MakerPennsylvania Department of Health
Robert Helverson, MS
Policy Maker Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Julie Miller, PhD, DABT
Policy MakerAgency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Rosemarie Halt RPh. MPH.Policy MakerChildren First Health Policy Consultant

Stakeholder Advisory Board (SAB)

Stakeholders work together with CEET to identify and solve environmental health problems. The CEC Stakeholder Advisory Board is composed of community members representing CEC’s target communities, University members, officials from the local, State, and Federal government, and representatives from environmental interest groups and other relevant organizations (see below). The Board meets semi-annually to ensure that CEC’s activities are designed to optimally meet the needs of communities, health care professionals, and policy makers in improving environmental and public health.  The Board periodically reviews the effectiveness of CEC’s programs and advises CEC on recommended changes.  In addition, the Board advises CEC on developments within the field of environmental health from the point of view of communities, health care professionals, decision makers, and the University.  The Board also recommends new activities and directions as appropriate.

A complete list of members on the Stakeholder Advisory Board