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Dissertation Defense by Fiona Fogarty
Monday, December 15, 2025 | 10am – 11am | Virtual | RSVP
Please join us for the dissertation defense of Fiona Fogarty, PhD in Environmental and Planetary Health Sciences (EPHS).
Dissertation title – Meconium Metal Concentrations and Infant Temperament and Development
The dissertation defense will be held via Zoom on Monday, December 15. It will be open to the public from 10am to 11am.
To attend virtually, kindly RSVP to receive the Zoom details for this event.
Questions can be sent to Minosky Pichardo (Minosky.Pichardo@sph.cuny.edu).
Committee:
- Dr. Suzanne McDermott (chair)
- Dr. Brian Pavilonis
- Dr. Bo Cai (external member) University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health
ENERGY Center Journal Club
The ENERGY Center is pleased to host a monthly Journal Club for PhD students and ENERGY Center faculty members at CUNY SPH.
Each month, a doctoral student, with support from a faculty advisor, leads the discussion of a peer-reviewed article of their choosing. Articles focus on topics related to exposure science, environmental and occupational epidemiology, workplace health and safety, advanced data analysis and nutrition science.
Journal Club is an opportunity to engage critically with current research, explore emerging ideas, and build a stronger community within the EOHS program.
Next Journal Club Meeting: December 17, 2025
This month, we’ll take a break from our regular article discussion to hear directly from EOGHS faculty about their current research projects.
Past discussions:
- Severe flooding and cause-specific hospitalisation among older adults in the USA: a retrospective matched cohort analysis
- Heat Exposure, Preterm Birth, and the Role of Greenness in Australia, by Tingting Ye et al.
- Hold My Beer: The Linkage between Municipal Water and Brewing Location on PFAS in Popular Beverages by Jennifer Hoponick Redmon et al.
- Bioaccumulation of microplastics in decedent human brains by Alexander J. Nihart et al.
- A One Health Investigation into H5N1 Avian Influenza Virus Epizootics on Two Dairy Farms by Ismalia Shittu et al.
- Assessing fentanyl and methamphetamine in air and on surfaces of transit vehicles by Marc Beaudreau et al.
- An interrupted time series analysis of the cardiovascular health benefits of a coal coking operation closure by Wuyue Yu and George D. Thurston
Journal Club is intended primarily for CUNY SPH PhD students and ENERGY Center faculty. Prospective students or others who believe they can meaningfully contribute to the conversation are welcome to contact Suzanne McDermott (Suzanne.Mcdermott@sph.cuny.edu) for more information.
CUNY SPH Grand Rounds with Dr. Tara Sabo-Attwood
Sewers to Solutions: The Role of Wastewater Epidemiology in Public Health
February 5, 2026 | 4:00-5:30 PM | CUNY SPH Room 717 & Zoom | RSVP
Dr. Sabo-Attwood, Dean of the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina, conducts research on organism and tissue responses to environmental contaminants, the health impacts of air pollution, and the use of wastewater surveillance to monitor population health. We are pleased to invite her to CUNY SPH to hear about her important contributions in these areas.
PAST EVENTS:
Dissertation Defense by Rachel Thompson
Thursday, December 11, 2025 | 11am – 12pm | CUNY SPH, 55 W 125th St, Room 825, New York, NY & Virtual | RSVP
Please join us for the dissertation defense of Rachel Thompson, PhD in Environmental and Planetary Health Sciences (EPHS).
Dissertation title – Green Revitalization: Evaluating the Impact of Citywide Park Redesign and Renovation on the Health of Low-Income Communities in New York City
The dissertation defense will be held in person in room 825, and via Zoom on Thursday, December 11. It will be open to the public from 11am to 12pm.
To attend virtually, kindly RSVP to receive the Zoom details for this event.
Questions can be sent to Minosky Pichardo (Minosky.Pichardo@sph.cuny.edu).
Committee:
- Glen D. Johnson, PhD, MS, MA (Chair)
- Terry Huang, PhD, MPH, MBA
- Brian Pavilonis, PhD, CIH
- Katarzyna Wyka, PhD
Tools to quantify ambient exposures to volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
December 10 | 4pm – 5:30pm | Virtual | RSVP
Join us for Grand Rounds with Cristina Davis, PhD!
Environmental exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) plays a key role in public health assessments, but there is a lack of easy to deploy tools to monitor this at scale. Dr. Cristina Davis’ team developed novel tools to characterize these exposures, and deploying them to track VOC exposures during California wildfires. These measurements are poised to help inform future epidemiological studies in both the general population, and within specialty occupations such as firefighters.
About the Speaker
Dr. Cristina Davis is a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of California, Davis (Davis, CA), and the campus’ associate vice chancellor for research.
Davis’ research group focuses on creating miniature analytical sensor systems for mobile chemical detection platforms. She earned her BS degree at Duke University with a double major in mathematics and biology. She completed her PhD in biomedical engineering at the University of Virginia, focusing on novel biosensor research.
She then worked on silicon-chip based biosensors during a postdoctoral fellowship at The Johns Hopkins University. Along with a group of co-founders, she worked in industry in Switzerland to establish a start-up company developing MEMS-based screening platforms for the pharmaceutical industry, and their company was acquired by Molecular Devices Corporation.
Davis ultimately went on to become a principal member of the technical staff and the founding group leader of bioengineering at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory (Cambridge, MA). She served as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) for the United States Air Force (2014-2018), and is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and National Academy of Inventors (NAI).
She is a co-founder and scientific advisor to a UC Davis affiliated start-up based on her research. She was chair of the International Association of Breath Research (IABR) from 2021-2023, and is currently the editor in chief of the Journal of Breath Research.
Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Conference
Sept 13, 2025, 9AM-5PM
Mount Sinai Hospital, NYC
This conference is a unique chance to hear from many of the historic figures who have done the science and advocacy on asbestos for the past 50 years and continuing into the future. It is also a rare chance to understand the role of scientists and advocates in eliminating asbestos and detecting and treating asbestos-related diseases.
Registration is free for students and health professionals.
NYC Climate Week
September 22–28, 2025
CUNY is excited to showcase a series of events that highlight our community’s leadership on climate collaboration, workforce development, climate justice, and student engagement.
Visit CUNY Climate Consortium (C3) to learn more.
Join Us for a Special Visit from AIHA President Larry Sloan
We are pleased to welcome Larry Sloan, President of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), for an in-person visit on Wednesday, May 14 at 5:00 PM in Room 708.
Mr. Sloan will speak with students and faculty about the recent nationwide cuts to occupational health programs and share how AIHA is working to address and mitigate these impacts. He will also discuss the professional benefits of AIHA membership, opportunities for student involvement, and the future of the industrial hygiene and occupational health professions.
This is a valuable opportunity to engage with one of the field’s leading voices—we encourage you to attend and bring your questions.
For more information about AIHA, visit www.aiha.org.
