In addition to supporting basic scientific research, the SBRP funds outreach activities, which are designed to facilitate the translation of the Program's results to the communities and organizations most concerned with the effects of hazardous substances on human health. This section highlights innovative SBRP Outreach activities.
Two New Tools Are Available on the Boston University SBRP web page: The Boston University Superfund Basic Research Program (BU SBRP) has implemented an innovative approach to community outreach by making two new tools available on their website: the "Ask the Researcher" series and RSS Starter Kit.
Boston Consensus Conference on Biomonitoring: The Boston University Superfund Basic Research Program Outreach Core organized a Consensus Conference on Biomonitoring. The conference resulted in a panel of lay people from Boston neighborhoods and nearby cities and towns coming to consensus on five priority areas of concern that warrant further exploration and consideration as the use of human biomonitoring expands.
SBRP Outreach Core Works with Neighborhood Grassroots Group: The Outreach Core at Brown University is working closely with a grassroots community group whose homes were built on fill from a coal gasification plant. The Core is involved in various activities that assist the group in advocating for more extensive discovery and cleanup of the fill.
Collaborations Between Scientific Communities in the U.S. and Mexico: From 1990 until his retirement in 2003, Dr. Dean Carter at the University of Arizona SBRP led an outreach program to initiate and support cooperative efforts between government and non-government organizations on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border to develop real solutions for communities at risk of exposure to environmental contaminants.
Environmental Health Food Safety Scenario: In July 2002, nearly one hundred minority students from the Boston area, ages 14-17, participated in a three hour Environmental Health Food Safety Scenario at the Boston University Medical Center.
Environmental Health Education for Nurses: Stephanie Chalupka, RN, EdD, a Visiting Scholar in the Harvard School of Public Health SBRP Outreach Program, has developed "The Core Curriculum in Environmental Health". The goal of the curriculum and of the outreach to nurses is to increase the capacity for environmental health nursing in the United States and basically to build a cadre of nurses who include environmental health nursing in their practice.
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