Community Engagement Core

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.

Director

Marilyn Howarth, MD, FACOEM

As the Director of the Community Engagement Core, Dr. Howarth works with researchers, regulators, legislators, and communities to lower environmental risk and improve environmental health. She has worked in environmental justice communities in the Philadelphia region on problems including lead exposure, climate change, hydraulic fracturing exposures, air pollution, and legacy pollution. Dr. Howarth is also the Deputy Director of the Philadelphia Regional Center for Children’s Environmental Health. She is a member of several advisory boards at the state health department level. She is a past president of the Pennsylvania Occupational and Environmental Medical Society and a past board member of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Contact
Dr. Marilyn Howarth speaking at the 18th Annual CEET Symposium
Program Coordinator

Adrian Wood, MPH

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.

Contact
Adrian Wood presenting results of her research

Stakeholder Advisory Board

Our Stakeholder Advisory Board is composed of CEC members, community members who represent our target communities, public health decision makers, officials from the local, state and federal government agencies, representatives from environmental groups, and other non-profit organizations. The functions of the SAB are to: (i) ensure that CEC activities meet the needs of these stakeholders; (ii) conduct periodic reviews of the effectiveness of CEC programs and recommend changes; (iii) advise on the impact of developments and changes in policies that affect public health; (iv) to recommend new research initiatives in our thematic areas in response to their environmental challenges; and (v) recommend solutions.

Emily Adler

Environmental Health Scientist Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Sari Bernstein, Esq

Staff Attorney Public Interest Law Center

Susan Eckert

Community Stakeholder Lancaster County

Rosemarie Halt, RPh, MPH

Policy Consultant Children First

Donna Henry, MS

Executive Director Southwest CDC

Rev. Horace Strand

President Chester Environmental Partnership

Fred Lewis

Director Germantown Senior Environment Corps

Jeffrey Martin, MD

Chair Lancaster Lead Coalition

Dalton Paxman, PhD

Regional Health Administrator US Department of Health and Human Services

Richard Pepino, MS, MSS

Emeritus Faculty University of Pennsylvania Earth and Environmental Science

Ted Pickett

President Eastwick United

Charles Reeves

President Taker Morris Neighbors Association

Amani Reid

Eastern Regional Coordinator Environmental Protection Agency

Maurice Sampson

Executive Director Clean Water Action

Kassahun Sellassie, PhD, PE

Director City of Philadelphia, Air Management Services

Jerome Shabazz, MS

Executive Director Overbrook Environmental Education Center

Sachin Shankar, PE

Assistant Regional Director PA Department of Environmental Protection

Jasmin Velez, MA

Lead Community Organizer Kensington Corridor Trust

Lora Werner, MPH

Deputy Director Delaware County Health Department

Earl Wilson

President Eastwick Friends and Neighbors

Alice Wright-Bailey

Executive Director Chester Environmental Partnership