Category Archives: PROTECT Team

On Wednesday, June 17th Project 3 Trainee and 2019 PROTECT Trainee Development Award Winner Luisa Feliciano gave fellow PROTECT Trainees, Faculty, and Staff a virtual presentation on “Visual Design Consideration When Preparing Media.” This presentation was positively reviewed and effective in providing resources on how to be more effective in conveying scientific research, research translation, […]

Shayan Hojabri is a PhD Candidate in the discipline of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northeastern University working within Project 4 under the mentorship of Akram Alshawabkeh. He has been working in Akram’s lab since 2014 throughout his masters and PhD programs. Most recently Shayan received the PROTECT IDP Award in 2019 and Northeastern University’s […]

Since December 28th of last year the island of Puerto Rico has been rattled by a series of hundreds of earthquakes, the most powerful of which occurred on January 7th in the Southwest Region where shock waves from a 6.4-magnitude earthquake were felt across the island. The massive earthquake in January caused over $3.1 billion […]

On the morning of Wednesday, June 24th the PROTECT Research Experience and Training Coordination Core hosted a Trainee Coffee Hour with NIEHS Health Science administration staff members  Dr. Heather Henry, Dr. Michelle Heacock, Dr. Danielle Carlin, and Brittany Trottier as our esteemed guests. Drs. Henry,  Heacock, and Carlin are all Health Science Administrators for the […]

In the last few years, Puerto Rico has faced numerous catastrophic events, including the Zika virus outbreak in 2016, Hurricanes Maria and Irma in September 2017, ongoing droughts, and a series of ongoing, destructive earthquakes in 2020. Now, and like much of the US, the island is dealing with the COVID 19 epidemic.  The PROTECT Center […]

New Project 2 Collaborator Kelly Bakulski recently participated in the mini-symposium on “Metals and Epigenetics” from the Columbia and Berkeley SRP Centers. We are proud of Kelly’s inclusion in this presentation and are pleased she was recognized for being a rising star in her field. To watch this mini-symposium, check out the recording on youtube. […]

Earlier this month, PROTECT, ECHO, & CRECE pediatrician and scientist Gredia Huerta-Montañez was elected to the National Executive Committee of the Council on Environmental Health (COEH) of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Gredia currently serves as the Vice President of the Puerto Rico Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and will continue in […]

On May 20th, the EPA announced the appointment of PROTECT Researchers José Cordero and Carmen (Mili) Veléz Vega among 26 other members to the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee (CHPAC), out of a pool of 60 highly qualified candidates. The CHPAC is a body of external representatives from research, academia, healthcare, legal, state, environmental organizations […]

This April, Project 2 Post-Doctoral Researcher Elana Elkin received the Edward W. Carney Trainee Award at the 2020 Annual Society of Toxicology (SOT) Meeting for the scientific quality of her abstracts and overall impact to the fields of reproductive and developmental toxicology or teratology. Elana is not only an excellent researcher and a long time […]

On Wednesday, April 22nd it was announced that Project 2 Trainee Anthony Su was awarded the Eugene Feingold Excellence in Diversity Student Award for his commitment to expanding diversity and inclusion at the University of Michigan. Anthony is a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences within the UMICH School of Public health […]

PROTECT explores how environmental exposures during pregnancy may impact preterm birth risk, specifically studying a Puerto Rican cohort due to higher levels of preterm birth compared to the U.S. mainland. In this instance, pregnant women in this cohort had relatively low blood lead (Pb) concentrations when compared to the general US population. However, despite the […]

A recent PROTECT study from Project 2 provides the scientific community with further evidence that exposure to chemicals such as metals (cadmium, arsenic, lead and chromium), phthalates (dibutyl phthalate, diethylhexyl phthalate), volatile organic compounds (trichloroethylene, carbon tetrachloride), pesticides (dieldrin, atrazine, parathion) and polycylic hydrocarbons (naphthalene) may be harmful during pregnancy and ultimately cause adverse birth […]

Phthalates are chemicals commonly used in industrial and consumer products that act as plasticizing agents, which serve to make materials softer or more flexible. These chemicals are typically found in consumer items such as food packaging and personal care products. Some of the common phthalates found in consumer products are di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), di-isononyl phthalate […]

On December 8th and 9th, 2017, PROTECT team leaders from around the U.S. and Puerto Rico came together for an executive committee at the Residence Inn Marriott Hotel in Philadelphia, PA to discuss progress, data integration and plans. The first day of the meeting focused on integrating data from PROTECT and related research (ZIP, CRECE) […]

PROTECT team members from all of the Center’s partner institutions attended the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Superfund Research Program (SRP) 30th Annual Meeting held from December 6th through 8th, 2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The meeting was hosted by Penn SRP Center with support from PROTECT and Dartmouth SRP Centers. The theme of the […]

On October 19th, 2017, the Lancet Commission released a report on pollution and health said by NIEHS Hazardous Substances Branch Chief Bill Suk, Ph.D., to be “the first analysis to report the impacts of all kinds of pollution in all parts of the world, both health and economic.” The report took two years to develop […]

On September 20th, 2017, Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm, made landfall in Puerto Rico, nearly immediately rendering the island’s power grid, cellphone towers, and even its banking system inoperable. Puerto Rico’s director of safety and public protection, Héctor Pesquera, explained the situation, saying “Everything collapsed simultaneously.” The hurricane is reportedly the most powerful storm […]

PROTECT is excited to report that Dr. José F. Cordero, PROTECT Co-Director, was selected by The American Public Health Association (APHA) to receive the 2017 Sedgwick Memorial Medal for Distinguished Service in Public Health in recognition of his public health research and mentorship achievements as well as his lifelong effort to translate scientific findings to […]

On August 23rd, PROTECT researchers Roger Giese, Yishan Lin, and Ljiljana Rajic, presented at the SRP-organized American Chemical Society symposium “Economic impact of environmental health research: A case study of the NIH/NIEHS Superfund Research Program.” The session featured case studies conducted by Superfund Research Program centers, thoughts on possibilities and challenges for the implementation of […]

On August 6-8, PROTECT Project 5 trainees and researchers attended the 15th International Symposium on Electrokinetic Remediation (EREM2017) organized by the Department of Building Civil and Environmental Engineering (BCEE) at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. PROTECT co-director and Project 5 leader Prof. Akram Alshawabkeh serves as a member of the scientific committee for EREM conferences, and […]

On July 24th, 2017, Project 5 researchers Dr. Lily Rajic and PhD student Kimberly Hetrick began a weeklong mentoring service for the girls summer program “Young Leaders in STEM” organized by Science Club for Girls’ (SCFG). The program serves girls from grades 8-12 and was created to help young women to develop interests in science, […]

This summer, two local high school seniors, Teppei (Cody) Kotake of Newton North High School and Robert Rampanis of Norwell High School, participated in  PROTECT Project 5 research as part of the Young Scholars Program (YSP) organized by Northeastern University’s Center for STEM Education.  The 6-week long program was created to provide opportunities for hands-on research to high […]

On June 12th and 13th, 2017, PROTECT team leaders from around the U.S. and Puerto Rico came together for a mini-retreat on the Northeastern University campus in Boston to discuss progress, integration and plans. On the first day, each executive committee member presented on progress made with their team, particularly focusing on instances of successful […]

On Tuesday, April 4th and Wednesday, April 5th, PROTECT hosted the annual Northeast Superfund Research Program (SRP) Meeting at Northeastern University. This event was co-sponsored by the Boston University SRP, the Brown University SRP, the Columbia University SRP, the Dartmouth Toxic Metals SRP, and the Penn Superfund Research and Training Program. The meeting began with […]

On February 17th and 18th, 2017, over 75 PROTECT and CRECE researchers, trainees, administrators, advisers, colleagues, and guests from across mainland U.S. and Puerto Rico gathered in San Juan, Puerto Rico for the PROTECT/CRECE Annual Retreat. The event was held at the Condado Plaza Hilton and featured presentations sharing team progress from the leaders of […]

PROTECT team members from across the U.S. and Puerto Rico attended the NIEHS FEST  held from December 5th through 8th, 2016 in Durham, North Carolina. The FEST was hosted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to commemorate the institute’s 50th year of working “to reduce the burden of human illness and disability […]

In late October, New Solutions, a journal known for its focus on Environmental and Occupational Health Policy, published a special issue on “Social Science-Environmental Health Collaborations.” Professor and PROTECT researcher Dr. Phil Brown and Silent Spring Institute Executive Director Dr. Julia Brody served as guest editors of this November installment which explores collaborations between environmental […]

On October 17th, 2016, PROTECT researchers Dr. Rita Loch-Caruso and Dr. José Cordero each presented during the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Superfund Research Program Webinar The Interplay between Environmental Exposures and Infectious Agents: Session I – Introduction to Infectious Agents and Their Interactions with Environmental Exposures.  The webinar seminar series works “to […]

On Monday, September 19th, The PROTECT team kicked off the 2016-2017 academic year with the annual Trainee Orientation. This multi-institutional meeting hosted by the Training Core is held every fall as a means of introducing new student trainees to PROTECT. The event also serves as an update for all attendees on the progress the PROTECT […]

On Thursday, August 25th, Dr. Gredia Huerta-Montañez (CEC, CRECE) spoke at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Brownsville, Texas for the 2016 Children’s Environmental U.S.-MX Border Symposium, an event organized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This year’s theme for the forum was “Children’s Environmental Health on the Border: Protecting Children Where They Live, […]

As a spin-off of technology developed in the PROTECT program,  Roger Giese (Project 3 Leader) has received  funding from the Exploratory Grant Program of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), which is part of the Department of Agriculture.  The idea of the project is to expand and replace many tests for carcinogens in […]

Predicting hydraulic behavior of karst aquifers is difficult because of their high degree of heterogeneity and anisotropy. In a new study to address these challenges, PROTECT trainees Reza Ghasemizadeh and Xue Yu, implemented Equivalent Porous Media (EPM) Simulation of Groundwater Hydraulics and Contaminant Transport in Karst Aquifers. The work, published in PLOS ONE, focused on evaluation […]

In Manati, Puerto Rico, a legacy of pollution has an end in sight.  On October 1, 2015 the EPA proposed a plan of action to address the detrimental community impacts from the Pesticide Warehouse III Superfund Site. For years, pesticides and dioxins from the former pesticide facility have been contaminating the soil and groundwater of […]

This week, PROTECT is pleased to announce that recruitment figures for the PROTECT study have reached over 1,000 women! Thanks to the hard work on behalf of the nursing, administrative and medical staff in the Human Subjects and Sampling Core, 1,012 women have currently enrolled in PROTECT, where they are followed throughout their pregnancy until […]

Puerto Rico continues to face many challenges including a severe water drought, a crisis in health care, and worsening financial conditions. The recent record-breaking drought has affected 2.5 million residents living on the eastern side of the island, where water rationing has resulted in island-wide business closings and a damaged tourist industry. The drought has […]

PROTECT is excited to announce the incorporation of former cohort participants Abril Burgos, Jayrin Rosa and Joanabeth Maisonet as support staff in Core C. Abril, Joana and Jayrin live in the northern karst area of Puerto Rico and participated in PROTECT during their previous pregnancies. They are mothers of three beautiful children, one of whom […]

The “Research Opportunities for Undergraduates: Training in Environmental Health Sciences”(ROUTES) is a new program at Northeastern University designed to increase the number of underrepresented minority undergraduate students participating in environmental health (EH) research, which studies the effects of environmental contaminants on human health and communities. ROUTES scholars will receive training in interdisciplinary settings to enable […]

PROTECT Postdoctoral fellow Dr. Xue Yu published a paper on “Sociodemographic patterns of household water-use costs in Puerto Rico” in Science of The Total Environment.  The variability of household water-use costs across different sociodemographic groups in Puerto Rico was evaluated using census microdata from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Through multivariate analyses such as […]

This 4:15 video of “One Mom’s Story of Delivering a Preemie” chronicles first time mom Kelsey Nixon’s journey through the birth of her son Oliver at 28 weeks gestation.  In this video, Kelsey describes the “pure shock” of learning that she would be delivering her baby 3 months early due to complications from liver pain […]

PhD students Reza Ghasemizadeh, Shirin Hojabri and Roya Nazari together with Postdoctoral Fellow Xue Yu and Associate Research Scientist Lily Rajic attended the TCE Vapor Intrusion: State of the Science, Regulations, & Technical Options workshop on Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at UMass Lowell in Lowell, MA. The workshop was organized by the Northeast Waste Management […]

Dr. Akram Alshawabkeh (PROTECT PI/PD and Project 5 Leader) together with Dr. Helen Suh of Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University received a prestigious National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) R25 program training grant to enhance diversity in research in the environmental health sciences. The project “Research Opportunities for Undergraduates: Training in Environmental Health Sciences” (ROUTES) is focused […]

  Kristin Hicks, Executive Director of the PROTECT Training Core, received the 2014 Northeastern University College of Engineering Outstanding Staff Award. Kristin’s responsibilities have included the coordination and implementation of educational initiatives, student activities and outreach efforts for PROTECT and a few NEU programs which involves managing the administration of trainees activities.  Kristin works closely […]

PROTECT is seeking candidates for a new position, Director of Research Communication and Development. The successful candidate will work within the center to provide leadership and oversee activities in 3 key areas: 1. Research Translation: The applicant will use a broad variety of vehicles (web, social media, email, in-person meetings, etc) to communicate with government, the […]

Northeastern University’s Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute, in collaboration with the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Department of Health Sciences, seeks a postdoctoral research associate to help shape the new Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute (SSEHRI), which began in July 2012. This is a one-year postdoctoral position. SSEHRI has many funded […]

Monica Ramirez-Andreotta, M.P.A., Ph.D. (former trainee with UA SRP Center, who had joined Northeastern as a postdoc with the Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute) is now Assistant Professor of Health Sciences at Northeastern. Dr. Ramirez-Andreotta has been a great addition to our PROTECT team in the renewal for Community Engagement Core and Research Translation […]

We would like to welcome the newest members of the PROTECT community! Dr. Matias Mudarra, a Postdoc Associate and karst hydrogeologist, Victor Vargas, a graduate student in Environmental and Water Resource Engineering, and Maraida Balager, an undergraduate in Chemical Engineering, are new trainees working with PROTECT Project 4 leader, Dr. Ingrid Padilla at the University […]

Core E Leader Prof. Thomas Sheahan has been announced as the new Northeastern College of Engineering Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. In his new role, Tom is working closely with the College leadership team on faculty hiring, college and departmental academic plans and budgeting, space utilization, tracking our progress as a college, faculty merit […]

Northeastern graduate student Dogus Meric was recently cited in an article published in The Nation entitled “Sapping the Superfund’s Strength”, available here.  Dogus is working with Prof. Tom Sheahan on a related project also funded by the SRP.