Guidry selected as Environmental Health Sciences’ communication fellow

 

Now in its sixth year, the fellowship program trains early-career scientists to articulate research results and explain findings in ways that deepen public understanding. The fellows’ training begins with a conference March 8-10 in Washington, D.C., and will continue during the coming year, as fellows polish communication skills and learn effective ways to inform journalists and the public about new research findings.

 

Hailing from the United States and Canada, the 2012 fellows represent a wide range of interests and experience. Their professional and academic backgrounds range from environmental toxicology to epidemiology to green chemistry.

 

Guidry studies the health impacts of air pollution from industrial livestock production while working with communities to conduct research and emphasize environmental justice. She currently studies asthma-related outcomes in children attending middle schools near industrial swine and poultry operations. Epidemiologic data were collected in collaboration with students’ science classes to provide educational opportunities for students.

 

Fellows were selected through a competitive process by a committee of seven prominent scientists from universities throughout the country.

 

“We are very proud that Dr. Guidry was selected for this prestigious fellowship,” said Andrew Olshan, PhD, professor and chair in the public health school’s epidemiology department. “Ginger is well known for her outstanding teaching skills and community environmental research. Effective communication of science, especially environmental health issues, to the media and public is of critical importance and often under-appreciated in training programs.”

 

The nine other fellows are Craig Butt, PhD (Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment), Beth Feingold, PhD, MPH, MESc (Johns Hopkins University’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences), Jean-Philip Lumb, PhD (McGill University’s Department of Chemistry), Marty Mulvihill, PhD (Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry), Lesliam Quirós-Alcalá, PhD (University of California at Berkeley’s Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health), Cheryl Stein, PhD, Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s Department of Preventive Medicine), Glenys Webster, PhD (Simon Fraser University), Jennifer T. Wolstenholme, PhD (University of Virginia’s School of Medicine), and Kai Zhang, PhD (University of Michigan’s departments of environmental health sciences and epidemiology).

 

“Environmental health research has enhanced value when it can be effectively and enthusiastically communicated to the public,” Guidry said. “Accurate information is an essential spur for popular movements seeking positive change.”

 

 

UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu.