USGS Home Contact USGS Search USGS

Maps, Imagery, and Publications Hazards Newsroom Education Jobs Partnerships Library About USGS Podcasts/RSS

Science, Society, Solutions
Your Health  What's USGS Got To Do With It?

Second in a series of Congressional Briefings

	Thursday, May 17, 2001 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Cannon House Office Building Room 311 Washington, DC Refreshments will be served	Speakers:   (Speaker Biographies) Chip Groat Director U.S. Geological Survey Dr. Kenneth Olden Director National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences This link leaves the USGS site. Ms. Ginny Stern Washington State Department of Health This link leaves the USGS site.

Hosted by: The American Water Works Association and the National Association of County and City Health Officials This link leaves the USGS site.

Congressional Sponsors:
Representative Tom Davis (VA) This link leaves the USGS site.
Representative Ralph Regula (OH) This link leaves the USGS site.

Human Health Briefing Invitation - (PDF File 652 KB)

The past several years have seen growing recognition of the connection between the environment and human health. Learn how Federal and State health agencies are using USGS earth and biological science information to address environmental problems that can affect human health.

Dust and Particulates USGS research is providing the public health community with important new insights into the potential human health effects of dust, such as the pathogen and contaminant content of windborne dusts arriving in the United States from Africa and the role of mineral composition and mineral shape in asbestos-related diseases.		Mercury USGS investigations of the forms, sources, and effects of mercury help identify ways to reduce mercury contamination problems for people and wildlife across the country.
Drinking Water In collaboration with the Federal, state and local agencies, USGS scientists assess the quality of drinking water for 91 million people in the United States.		Arsenic USGS scientists identify and map natural sources of arsenic in the environment and study geochemical processes that affect its toxicity. In the past year, the USGS has provided occurrence information to USEPA for their rulemaking efforts, and collaborated with health professionals worldwide to assess arsenic exposure.

West Nile Virus USGS is conducting research, in collaboration with CDC, to learn the current geographic extent of the West Nile virus, to understand how it moves between birds, mosquitos and humans, and to predict future movements of the virus.

Everyone is welcome to attend this briefing. Presentations will illustrate how earth and biological science information from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is helping decisionmakers effectively address societal, environmental, and economic needs.

Speaker Biographies

Dr. Charles Groat

Dr. Groat became the 13th Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior in November of 1998. He is a distinguished professional in the earth science community with over 25 years of direct involvement in geological studies, energy and mineral resource assessment, ground-water occurrence and protection, geomorphic processes and landform evolution in desert areas, and coastal studies. Chip has held positions throughout his career in both academia and the public sector. Chip received his Bachelor of Arts degree in geology from the University of Rochester, his Master of Science in geology from the University of Massachusetts, and his Ph.D. in geology from the University of Texas at Austin. He has also served on over a dozen earth science boards and committees and has authored and contributed to numerous publications and articles on major issues involving earth resources and the environment.

Dr. Kenneth Olden

Dr. Olden is director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. He is a cell biologist and biochemist by training and has been active in cancer research for almost three decades. He was director of the Howard University Cancer Center and professor and chairman of the Department of Oncology at Howard University Medical School from 1985 to 1991. As director, he has served on the editorial boards of cancer and cell biology journals, is a member of a number of professional societies, and was named to the National Cancer Advisory Board in 1991 by President Bush. He has participated widely as an invited speaker at scientific symposia and seminars, as a reviewer for programs in his field, and has authored and co-authored more than 200 publications. Because of Dr. Olden´s outstanding contributions in his field, he was elected to membership in the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1994.

Ms. Virginia Stern

Ginny is the senior hydrogeologist with the Washington State Department of Health, where she focuses primarily on developing and applying vulnerability and related risk models for public water systems. She has served as the technical lead on most of the ground-water resources programs for the Department of Health. Ginny joined the Environmental Health Programs of the Department in 1990, and has spent most of her time with the Division of Drinking Water working on Safe Drinking Water Act issues. Before 1990, she was a research hydrologist with Everglades National Park in Florida and a forest hydrologist on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest of Southwest Washington, giving her a total of more than 20 years´ experience in water resources and hydrology. Ginny´s work has spanned both policy and technical programs. Her undergraduate degree is in geology, and she has a Master´s of Environmental Science from The Evergreen State College in Washington.