By: Brianna Kreditor, MPH
Successful GEOHealth Center meetings were held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia at the end of June. The annual GEOHealth meetings included presentations reviewing the Hub’s research and training progress, advice from external advisory committee members, meeting with national Mongolian and WHO representatives, demonstrated use of newly purchased GEOHealth center equipment, and screening of potential Mongolian fellow candidates for next year’s training at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and Duke University. In addition, six of the GEOHealth Hub members gave keynote presentations at Mongolia’s first ever National Environmental Health Conference, sponsored by Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences (MNUMS), UNICEF, and the WHO.
During the annual GEOHealth meeting, five trainees presented their recent three-months of One-Health-oriented research training at UTMB or Duke under a GeoHealth Center Grant for Mongolia. The five scholars’ professional development training is aimed to advance environmental and occupational health using a One Health approach in Mongolia. Over the next year, the trainees will use their recent training to undertake research projects in Mongolia in connection with the GEOHealth Hub.
At the National Environmental Health Conference, presentations included those from the U2R GEOHealth Hub PI, Dr. Gregory C. Gray, MD, MPH, FISDA, from UTMB, U01 GEOHealth Hub Co-PI, Dr. Junfeng (Jim) Zhang, PhD from Duke University, and GEOHealth Hub members Drs. Ana Maria Hagan, an environmental health consultant in Mongolia, Laura Pulscher from UTMB, Robert Tighe from Duke University, and David Warburton from the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, University of Southern California.
As the GEOHealth Hub’s second annual meeting, success is celebrated and worthy to highlight. This dual U01 and U2R grant is funded through NIH’s Forgarty International Center to support the establishment of a GEOHealth Center in Mongolia and provide training research opportunities to expand environmental and occupational health research capacity in Mongolia. Future research, cutting-edge training, and virological techniques will aid in advancing air pollution exposure for environmental and occupational health.