PBC2007 Conference Plenary & Keynote Speakers to date |
 Professor Kirk R. Smith, University of California, Berkeley, USA
Professor Tao Shu, Beijing University, China
Dr. Lilian Corra, International Society of Doctors for the Environment, Argentina
Professor Chiharu Tohyama, University of Tokyo, Japan
Professor John P. Holdren, Harvard University and the Woods Hole Research Center, USA
Professor Genandrialine Peralta, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Philippines
Mr. Harpreet Singh Giani, Barrister-at-Law, India
Dr. Jenny Pronczuk, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
Dr. William Suk, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), USA |
Professor Kirk R. Smith, Saturday, October 27, 2007 Opening Plenary 9 am
"The Risk Transition: How Environmental Health Risks Change with Development"
Kirk R. Smith is Professor of Environ mental Health Sciences and holds the Maxwell Endowed Chair in Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also founder and coordinator of the campus-wide Masters Program in Health, Environment, and Development. Previously, he was founder and head of the Energy Program of the East-West Center in Honolulu, where he still holds appointment as Adjunct Senior Fellow in Environment and Health after moving to Berkeley in 1995. He is also a Visiting Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center. His research work focuses on environmental and health issues in developing countries, particularly those related to health-damaging and climate-changing air pollution from energy production and use, and includes ongoing field measurements and health-effects projects in India, Nepal, and Guatemala, as well as in China where he has worked since 1981. He serves on a number of national and international scientific advisory and editorial boards, including those for the WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines and for the Global Energy Assessment, and has published over 230 scientific articles and 7 books. He holds bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees from UC Berkeley and, in 1997, was elected member of the US National Academy of Sciences.
|
Professor Tao Shu, Saturday, October 27, Opening Plenary
 After graduating from the Civil Engineering Department of the University of Kansas with MS and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Science and Health, Dr. Shu Tao joined the faculty at Peking University in 1984. He is now Cheung Kong Professor and Vice Dean of the College of Environmental Sciences of Peking University. He is also the director of The Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes (LESP), a key laboratory under the Chinese Ministry of Education. He chairs the subcommittee of Environmental & Chemical Geography, Chinese Geography Association. He also serves as vice president of SETAC AP and is on the editorial boards of several international journals. Currently, his research is focused on bioavailability of PAHs and OCPs to plant root and fish gills, multimedia fate modeling of POPs, exposure of toxic pollutants including PAHs, DDTs, and heavy metals. At present, he serves as principle investigator for a number of projects including Fate and behavior of PAHs in western part of Bohai-rim area, a key project of National Scientific Foundation of China (NFSC), Environmental biogeochemistry of POPs, a group research for Excellency also under the NSFC. Dr. Shu Tao has 140 papers published in peer-reviewed international journals. The publications cover a number of fields including bioavailability of trace elements and persistent organic pollutants, aquatic humic substances, fate and multimedia fate modeling of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and organochlorine pesticides. |
Professor Genandrialine Peralta, University of the Philippines, Closing Plenary
"Emerging Environmental Problems in the Asia Pacific"
Genandrialine Peralta is Professor and coordinator of the Environmental Engineering Graduate Program of the University of the Philippines, Diliman. She is also the coordinator for environmental engineering of the ASEAN University Network (AUNSEED-Net) and the Certificate Program on Toxic and Hazardous Wastes (with USEPA).
Her areas of interest and specialization are in environmental engineering and environmental health, specifically focusing on the following areas: solid and hazardous waste management; environmental and health impact/risk assessment; energy, environment, and health; water quality monitoring and control; environmental modeling; leaching and acid mine drainage potential; and women’s issues in health and environment. Prior to joining the academe, Dr. Peralta worked with the Environmental Management Bureau, a national government agency under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources charged with formulating environmental policies, reviewing environmental impact statements, undertaking environmental research and promotion and conducting training. Dr. Peralta has worked in about 25 countries as a consultant to a number of organizations, including the World Health Organization and the Asian Development Bank, as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency, Philippine National Power Corporation, and Philippine Geothermal Inc. She is a chemical engineer and earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Toronto, Canada and her M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering from the University of the Philippines.
|
Professor Chiharu Tohyama, Saturday, October 27, 2007, Opening Plenary
"Dioxins - with a Special Reference to Public Perception, Science and Policy in Japan"
 Chiharu Tohyama is a Professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, Center for Disease Biology and Integrated Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine at the University of Tokyo. Dr. Tohyama’s research interests include environmental toxicology; health effects of heavy metals (cadmium and mercurials); and dioxins/PCBs and the clarification of their toxicity mechanism in the pursuit of food safety and protection of the environment. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Tokyo, Dr. Tohyama was the Director of the Environmental Health Sciences Division of the National Institute of Environmental Sciences for many years.
Dr. Tohyama has over 120 publications to his credit and is a member of numerous professional societies including: the Japan Society of Hygiene (Board Member and Editor-in-Chief); the Japan Society of Trace Metal Research (Board Member); the Japan Society of Risk Research; the Advisory Board on Toxicology of Metals (International Commission of Occupational Health); the Society of Toxicology (USA); the Japan Society of Biochemistry; the Japan Society of Environmental Science ; the Japan Society of Toxicology (Board Member ; and the Japan Society of Environmental Endocrine Disruptors (Board Member). Dr. Tohyama is also a board member of the Pacific Basin Consortium for Environment and Health Sciences.
|
Dr. William Suk, Monday, October 29, 2007, Closing Plenary
"Strategies for Addressing Global Environmental Health Concerns"
 William Suk, PhD, MPH is currently Director of the Office of Program Development, Division of Extramural Research and Training, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). His work at the NIEHS covers the assessment of national and international efforts in biomedical research and its potential applications in determining adverse effects on human health resulting from exposure to environmental agents. He is responsible for designing, developing, and managing national and international programs that focus on those areas of research pertinent to the Institute's mission in experimental and molecular biology and population-based studies. To do so effectively, Dr. Suk has maintained extensive contacts with the academic and industrial scientific communities; intramural programs of the Institute as well as extramural and intramural programs of other institutes at NIH; and scientists and administrators of Federal, state, professional, and private organizations, nationally and internationally.
Dr. Suk also serves, and has served since its inception, as Director of the NIEHS Superfund Hazardous Substances Basic Research and Training Program, a program established by Congress as part of the reauthorization of Superfund in 1986. Dr. Suk has had a sustained interest in linking exposures with disease etiologies and in developing research and prevention strategies to reduce risk to environmentally induced diseases and disorders.
|
Dr. Lilian Corra, MD, Sunday, October 29, Opening Plenary
"Creating Inter-sectorial Alliances to Protect Children's Health from Environmental Threats: the Role of NGOs "Working Together as One" on CEH: Partnerships in Action"
 Dr. Lilian Corra is a paediatrician / neonatologist with a strong background in environmental education and environmental issues. She has extensive experience on the impacts on health of environmental factors. Dr. Corra was named by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) on the Global 500 Environmental Role of Honour in 1997 for her work to protect the environment. Dr. Corra founded the Asociación Argentina de Médicos por el Medio Ambiente (AAMMA) in 1992, which is linked to the International Society of Doctors for the Environment (ISDE) (created in 1989). She is Past President (2005/2007) and currently Secretary for International issues of ISDE. Dr Corra is co-founder and member of the International Coordinating Committee of the International Network on Children’s Health Environment and Safety (INCHES), created in 1998 and promoted by WHO. ISDE and INCHES have Consultative Status with WHO and participate in WHO activities on Children's Environmental Health (CEH) (HECA, Working Groups on CEH Training Materials for Health Care Providers and on Communication of Uncertainty on Children Chemical Safety, among others). Dr Corra is also a member of the Steering Committee of the International POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) Elimination Network (IPEN). Dr Corra coordinated the Champion’s Group to promote the IFCS IV Recommendations to Protect Children from Harmful Chemical Exposure on behalf of the IFCS President (2003-2006), participates in various IFCS Working Groups (on heavy metals, toys and chemicals and others), and since 2006 is a member of the Forum Standing Committee of IFCS representing Science NGOs. Representing AAMMA and ISDE, Dr. Corra has been involved in the POPs negotiation for the Stockholm Convention and in the National Implementation Plan of the POPs Convention in Argentina. Representing ISDE and AAMMA she has participated in the Strategic Approach for the International Chemical Management (SAICM) process since its beginning. Since 2006 Dr Corra has been a member of the Science Committee of the International Academy of Environmental Science (IAES, based at the University of Venice, Italy) and is member of the Collegium Ramazzini. Dr. Corra is responsible for the academic area “Environment and Health” for the Graduate Degree in Environmental Management at the National University of Litoral. She also coordinates the academic area “Environment and Health” in the Graduate Degree in Public Health Program at the Institute for Human Development and Health (Medical Municipal Association of the City of Buenos Aires).
|
Dr. Jenny Pronczuk, MD, Monday, October 29, 2007, Closing Plenary
"Children's Environmental Health in the 21st century: Challenges and Solutions"
 Jenny Pronczuk is a Medical Offer in the International Programme on Chemical Safety at the World Health Organization in Geneva. Dr. Pronczuk leads activities on Children's Health and the Environment at the Public Health and Environment (PHE) Department in WHO. She is a Clinical Toxicologist and Occupational Health Physician, originally from Montevideo, Uruguay, where she was appointed Head Professor of Clinical Toxicology and Director of the National Poisons Centre. She trained at the Université de Paris, Lariboisière - St Louis in Paris and, through a Fulbright Scholarship, at Baylor, Houston, USA. Dr. Pronczuk joined WHO in 1991 to work in the promotion of chemical safety (IPCS) and initiated work on the response to epidemics of toxic origin. Works now on environmental threats and vulnerable population groups (children), specifically on the promotion of longitudinal cohort children's studies, international collaborative research, training of health care providers, and technical advise to countries. |
Mr. Harpreet Singh Giani, Monday October 29, 2007, Closing Plenary
"The Tough Choices We Must Make - And Why We Must Make Them Now"
 Mr. Giani specialises in public international law, especially international crime and international finance. He also works extensively on commercial laws within India. He is General Counsel and advisor for corporations in India and for non-Indians doing business with India. He is also standing Counsel for the Chandigarh Government in India. Mr Giani holds a
Masters in Business Law from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, India and a Master of Law (International Law) degree by the London School of Economics in 2006. He has also studied International Law at the Hague Academy of International Law, the Hague, The Netherlands. He is a member of the International Law Association, European Law Students Association, YIAG of the London Court of International Arbitration, and AAA of the Hague Academy of International Law.
|
 Professor John P. Holdren, Monday, October 29, 2007, Closing Plenary
"Environment, Health, and Sustainable Well-Being: What Do We Know? What Should We Do?"
John P. Holdren is the Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy and Director of the Program on Science, Technology, and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, as well as President and Director of the Woods Hole Research Center. He is also Professor of Environmental Science and Policy in Harvard’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the immediate past President and current Chair of the Board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (the largest general science society in the world). His work has focused on causes and consequences of global environmental change, sustainable development, energy technology and policy, nuclear arms control and nonproliferation, and science and technology policy.
Dr. Holdren is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Council on Foreign Relations. From 1993 through 2004 he served as Chair of the Committee on International Security and Arms Control of the National Academy of Sciences, and from 1994 to 2001 he was a member of President Clinton's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology. Since 2002 he has been Co-Chair of the independent, bipartisan National Commission on Energy Policy, and from 2004 to the present he has served as a coordinating lead author of the Scientific Expert Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development, reporting to the Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the Commission on Sustainable Development of the United Nations..
He is a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowship (1981-6), the Volvo International Environment Prize (1993), the Kaul Foundation Award for Scientific Excellence (1999), the Tyler Environment Prize (2000), and the John Heinz Prize in Public Policy (2001), among other awards. In 1995 he gave the acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs (where he served as Chair of the Executive Committee from 1987 to 1997). |
| |
| |
|
