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October 27, 2009

Epidemiologist Dr. Howard Hu to speak on lead poisoning on Tuesday, November 3

By Daniel Strain (831) 459-2495; dstrain@ucsc.edu

Renowned epidemiologist Dr. Howard Hu will discuss the health impacts of lead toxicity in a free public lecture on Tuesday, November 3, at 3 p.m. in the Physical Sciences Building, Room 240, on the UCSC campus.

Hu's talk, "Lead Toxicity: Twenty Years of Research on the Poison that Keeps on Poisoning," marks the 10th anniversary of the Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology Department at UCSC.

Hu is a professor of epidemiology and environmental health sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, and a professor of internal medicine at the UM School of Medicine. As co-director of the Michigan-Harvard Metals Epidemiology Research group, he has pioneered studies investigating the impacts of lead and other toxic metals on human health.

Lead remains a widespread and extremely harmful toxin in the United States and abroad. Hu works with communities in the United States, Mexico, and India to study the effects of lead exposure on fetal and childhood development. He also examines the critical role that genetic differences play in how humans react to metal toxicity.

Donald Smith, professor and chair of microbiology and environmental toxicology at UCSC, praised Hu for his "extraordinary achievements" in environmental health. "He has greatly expanded our understanding of how human environmental exposures contribute to common diseases," Smith said.

Research on the impacts of environmental lead contamination on human and animal populations has been one of the primary focuses of UCSC's Department of Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology, which has become an international leader in environmental health science. Smith and others in the department use isotope analyses to trace the sources of lead in cases of lead poisoning and contamination. Several faculty members in the UCSC group work closely with medical experts, such as Hu, on studies that focus on the health impacts of lead toxicity.

"Environmental health science is extremely interdisciplinary," Smith said. "It requires the involvement of a range of people, from analytical chemists to physicians studying disease. These collaborations have been indispensable in creating a complete picture of lead's negative impacts, from sources to environment to disease, and they have led to huge improvements in human and environmental health."

For more information about this event or special accommodations, contact Claudia McClure at (831) 459-4719 or mcclure@metx.ucsc.edu

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