After completing requirements for an MPH with a
concentration in Environmental Health, Jessica Nelson was excited to be
accepted to the Department's doctoral program.
"BUSPH has impressed me with the overall quality of teaching
and the range of courses offered. The
master's and doctoral programs in environmental health provide a very practical
mix of science and public health policy," she says.
The Carleton College graduate completed her MPH practicum with the
Environmental Health Initiative, an affiliate of the University
of Massachusetts (Lowell).
This facet of her training involved working with Professor Richard W.
Clapp , DSc '89, to analyze health and environmental data for California
and Vermont
communities.
For her doctoral research, Jessica is focusing on biomonitoring
(measuring chemicals in peoples' bodies).
She is using quantitative and qualitative
research methods to study both scientific applications and social implications.
Working with Professor Tom Webster, she is using biomonitoring data to
investigate the hypothesis that environmental chemicals may be related to
obesity, an idea she first explored as a class project in the department's Environmental Epidemiology course. In the
Fall of 2006, Jessica and fellow doctoral student Madeleine Kangsen Scammell
organized the Boston Consensus Conference on
Biomonitoring.
After discussion among themselves and with scientific experts, 14 Boston-area
lay people provided their input on the complicated ethical and political
questions associated with the technology. The result was a Consensus Statement
that has been presented widely to policymakers, scientists, advocates, and
industry.
|
Boston University School of Public Health 
