Pediatric Research Conference on Food, Environment, and Children’s Health Set to Convene in Austin, TX
Austin, Texas (PRWEB) February 03, 2015 -- The Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN) is hosting a research conference titled: “Children: Food and Environment” in Austin, Texas from February 4th-6th, 2015. This conference will begin with a welcome address from the newly elected Austin Mayor, Mr. Steve Adler. CEHN is honored to have Mayor Adler, an advocate for the environment and for children, welcome conference participants to this exciting conference. Following the Mayor’s welcome will be an opening keynote address by Dr. Bruce Lanphear of Simon Fraser University and BC Children’s Hospital titled “Food in the Industrial Era: Is Backward the Way Forward?”
CEHN will also screen the documentary “Food Chains” as part of the conference opening, a film focusing on a group of tomato pickers from Southern Florida who are working to revolutionize farm labor. While focusing on farm worker injustices, the film provides an excellent bridge to the conference program by reflecting on how our entire food production system, from farm to table, touches the health of children, whether children of farm workers or consumers. Cutting edge research on topics ranging from how the interactions of food and the environment impact children’s health and development, including childhood obesity, neurodevelopment, and respiratory development will be presented over the following two days. There will be eight concurrent sessions with a total of 28 speakers, as well as two poster presentation sessions. CEHN’s Executive Director, Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, stated: "CEHN is thrilled to bring our latest pediatric research conference to Austin, TX and we look forward to over two days of science discussions around how the intersections of food and environmental factors affect the development of our children. The public health and policy implications to the related science will also be discussed in this unique forum." To see the full conference schedule, visit: http://www.cehn.org/files/whole_schedule%202-2.pdf.
Keynote speakers include Dr. Erin Hager from the University of Maryland on how home and school environments predict children’s dietary choices; Dr. Lita Proctor, the director of the NIH Human Microbiome Project, who will speak on what the human microbiome is and its importance; Dr. Susan Smith from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who will address the challenges of food, toxicants, and perinatal influences; and Dr. Gregory Diette from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health on the prevention and treatment of asthma with diet. Expert panelists will discuss the policy and regulatory implications of this research. David Wallinga from Healthy Food Action will moderate a panel including Dr. William Dietz and Dr. Lance Price from George Washington University on how to navigate science and policy in a complex food environment, and Nsedu Obot Witherspoon from CEHN will moderate a panel on how to overcome barriers to promoting healthy development, which is comprised of Dr. Ruth Etzel, Director of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Children’s Health Protection, Dr. William Suk from the National Institute of Environmental of Health Sciences, and Erik Olson from the Natural Resources Defense Council.
To showcase two programs doing excellent work with youth, food, and environmental sustainability in Austin, conference attendees will be visiting two Austin-based sustainable food programs as part of the conference, Urban Roots and the Sustainable Food Center.
To find out more about the conference and to register, visit: http://www.cehn.org/2015_research_conference.
Kristie Trousdale, Children’s Environmental Health Network, http://www.cehn.org, +1 (202) 543-4033 Ext: 10, [email protected]
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