Medical Geology International Workshop & First Hemispheric Conference

Medical Geology International Workshop Poster

Organized by:

Universidad del Turabo (UT)

Ana G. Mendez University System (AGMUS)

Centro Internacional para el Estudio del Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

American Registry of Pathology (ARP)

International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS)

 

International Medical Geology Association (IMGA)

 

Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU)

Download Program Information

Download conference information (DAY 4 of workshop)

Download information about field trip (DAY 5)

In collaboration with CIEMADeS

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMS

 

 

 

REGISTRATION FORM

 

 

VENUE AND ACCOMMODATION

WORKSHOP AND SHORT COURSE REGISTRATION FEES

The scope of this Workshop is to share the most recent information on the relationship between impacts of toxic metal ions, trace elements, natural dusts, and their impact on the environmental and public health issues. The scientific topics of the Workshop will include environmental toxicology, environmental pathology, geochemistry, geoenvironmental epidemiology, extent, patterns and consequences of exposures to toxic metal ions and dust in the general environment (with the stress on the water quality), biological risk assessment studies, modern trends in metal analysis and updates on the geology, toxicology and pathology of metal ion and dust exposures.

At the completion of this Workshop, the attendees will be able to:
• Know and gain information on the type of evidence available about geological sources and processes, environmental health, toxicology, and pathological manifestations of exposures of toxic metal species.
• Know and gain information about geochemical processes, natural and anthropogenic sources, speciation, modes of occurrence; to assess the impact of trace elements and toxic metal ion species on human and environmental health.
• Have an elementary understanding of environmental toxicology, epidemiology, medical geology as applied to the study of toxic metal species and trace elements.

Back

Dr. Mattheus FA. Goosen, Dean, Science & Technology School Universidad del Turabo

Dr. José A. Centeno, U.S. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, DC
Dr Robert B. Finkelman, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA
Dr. Olle Selinus, Geological Survey of Sweden
Back

Dr. José A. Centeno is a Senior Research Scientist and Chief of the Division of Biophysical Toxicology and the Education and Research Branch at the Department of Environmental and Infectious Disease Sciences, U.S. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) in Washington. D.C. Dr. Centeno received is BS and MS in chemistry from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez in 1979 and 1981, respectively; and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Michigan State University in 1987. He has presented over 170 invited seminars and lectures, and published over 65 manuscripts on various topics of environmental toxicology, biomedical research and environmental health issues. He has served on the organizing and scientific committees of several international conferences, including as General Chairman of the 6^th International Symposium in Metal Ions in Biology and Medicine (ISMIBM) (May 7-10, 2000), and co-chairman of the 7^th and 8^th ISMIBM (2002&2004). He has served on several international environmental and human health committees including the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the U.S. TOSCA-Interagency Testing Committee and the International Working Group on Medical Geology, and is currently serving as a committee member for the National Research Council Committee on Research Priorities for Earth Science and Public Health. He serves on the Editorial Board of three scientific journals, as associate editor of the book on Essentials in Medical Geology, as founding member and co-chair of the International Medical Geology Association, and as Director of the International Registry on Medical Geology. Dr. Centeno holds adjunct faculty professorships at four universities, is the recipient of the 1999 Distinguish Alumni Award on Science from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, Guest Professorship Award from China University of Mining and Technology (2002), Distinguished Professor Award from Turabo University in Puerto Rico (2003),  and William Evans Visiting Fellow from University of Otago, School  of Medicine in Wellington, New Zealand (2004). Over the last decade, he has focused attention on environmental toxicology, environmental pathology, and health effects of trace elements, toxic trace metals and metalloids, and has conducted research and teaching activities on medical geology in over 25 countries.

Dr. Robert B. Finkelman , a senior research scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Reston, VA, is widely known for his work on coal chemistry and as a leader of the emerging field of Medical Geology.  He has degrees in geology (The City College of New York, 1965), geochemistry (The George Washington University, 1970), and chemistry (The University of Maryland, 1980). Dr. Finkelman has a diverse professional background having worked at the USGS for 32 years, 7 years for Exxon, and has experience as a consultant and as a college instructor. Most of Dr. Finkelman’s professional career has been devoted to understanding the properties of coal and how these properties affect coal’s technological performance, economic byproduct potential, and environmental and health impacts. For the past 10 years he has devoted his efforts to developing the field of Medical Geology. Dr. Finkelman is the author of 500 publications and has been invited to speak in more than 30 countries. He is an officer in several professional societies, associate editor of two scientific journals, and holds adjunct professorships at five universities. Dr. Finkelman was Chairman of the Geological Society of America’s Coal Geology Division, 1990; Chair of the International Association for Cosmochemistry and Geochemistry, Working Group on Geochemistry and Disease, 1998 to present; founding member and co-chair of the International Medical Geology Association; recipient of the Nininger Meteorite Award, 1969; recipient of the Gordon H. Wood Jr. Memorial Award from the AAPG Eastern Section, 1999; a Fellow of the Geological Society of America since 1988; and the 2004 recipient of the Cady Award from the GSA’s Coal Geology Division. Dr. Finkelman is currently the President of the Society for Organic Petrology and was a recipient of a 2004 U. S. State Department Embassy Science Fellowship in South Africa.

Dr. Olle Selinus is a Ph.D. geologist working with the Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU).  During the 1960s and 1970s he worked in mineral exploration with a mining company and at the GSS. Since the beginning of the 1980s. Dr. Selinus research work has been focused on environmental geochemistry and geostatistical methods, including research on medical geology.  He has served as the organizer of several international conferences in this field and has published over 40 manuscripts.  Dr. Selinus is currently the Head of the Geochemical Division at SGU in charge of research and development. He serves as Editor-in-Chief for the book on “Essentials of Medical Geology”, as officer of COGEOENVIRONMENT and as chairman of its international Initiative on Medical Geology, co-chairman of the International Medical Geology Association, and co-chairman of the IGCP project #454 Medical Geology.

Dr. Florabel G. Mullick is the Principal Deputy Director of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) and member of the U.S. federal Senior Executive Service.  Dr. Mullick is also the Director for the Center for Advanced Pathology and Chair of the AFIP Department of Environmental and Infectious Disease Sciences. Dr. Mullick is a physician executive and managing scientist responsible for the development of an international computer database of both human and animal lesions resulting from toxic drugs and chemicals.  Dr. Mullick received her Doctor of Medicine degree from the School of Medicine in  Puerto Rico, her pathology training at University Hospital in Puerto Rico, Children’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., and Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.  She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Pathology in Anatomic Pathology and Secretary of the International Academy of Pathology.  Over the last decade, Dr. Mullick has focused her research efforts on the study of human health effects of toxic drugs and toxic trace metals with particular emphasis on liver diseases and pediatric pathology cases.

Dr. Geoffrey Plumlee Dr. Geoffrey S. Plumlee, a senior research geochemist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Denver, CO, is internationally recognized for his research on the environmental impacts of mining and the medical geochemistry of dusts and other earth materials. He received his B.S. in Geology from the University of New Mexico in 1980, and his Ph.D. in Geochemistry from Harvard University in 1989. He started his career at the USGS in 1985. Dr. Plumlee’s current environmental research examines how the geological characteristics of mineral deposits and geochemical processes influence the compositions and environmental effects of natural acid-rock drainage, mine-drainage, and mineral processing solutions. He has led or participated in interdisciplinary teams providing impartial environmental assessments of several prominent mine sites in the United Stares and internationally. In recognition of his contributions to the understanding of mining-related environmental issues, Dr. Plumlee was awarded the Lindgren Citation by the Society of Economic Geologists in 1994. Dr. Plumlee helped initiate and now co-leads an interdisciplinary project examining geologic materials from a human health perspective, with a focus on asbestos, mine wastes, arsenic-rich dusts and soils from dry lake beds, dusts generated by the September 11, 2001, World Trade Center building collapse, and volcanic ash. In collaboration with public health scientists, Dr. Plumlee’s medical geochemistry research focuses on the geochemical interactions of earth materials with human body fluids, and their impacts on toxicity. Dr. Plumlee has served as an expert member of the U.S. Navy Lung Disease Assessment Program advisory panel, and is listed as an expert member of the International Volcanic Health Hazards Network. Dr. Plumlee is a lead author or contributing author on over 170 scientific papers and abstracts. He served as lead editor and contributing author of the two-volume textbook The Environmental Geochemistry of Mineral Deposits, published in 1999 by the Society of Economic Geologists.

Dr. Bruce A. Fowler is the Assistant Director for Science, Division of Toxicology, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Dr. Fowler received his B.S. degree in Fisheries (Marine Biology) from the University of Washington in 1968 and a  Ph.D. in  Pathology from the University of Oregon Medical School in 1972. He was a staff scientist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences from 1972 until 1987 when he became the first Director of the University of Maryland System -wide Program in Toxicology and Professor of Pathology at the University of  Maryland School of  Medicine.  In 2001, he became Professor and Director of the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Toxicology in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of  Maryland School of Medicine. From 2002 – 2003 he was a Senior Research Advisor to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Diseases Registry (ATSDR) in the Division of Toxicology. He was appointed as the Assistant Director for Science in the Division of Toxicology and to the Senior Biomedical Research Service (PHS) at ATSDR in November 2003.  Dr. Fowler, who is an internationally recognized expert on the toxicology of metals, has served on a number of State, National and International Committees in his areas of expertise.  Dr. Fowler is the author of over 200 research papers and book chapters dealing with molecular mechanisms of metal toxicity and biomarkers for early detection of metal-induced cell injury.  His current research is focused on the toxicology of chemical mixtures involving metals, particularly in relation to semiconductors, lead, cadmium, arsenic mixtures and the role(s) of lead – binding proteins in mediating the toxicity of this ubiquitous metal to the kidney and brain.

Professor Philip Weinstein is a graduate in both medicine and zoology, with specialist postgraduate qualifications in Public Health (FAFPHM) as well as ecology (PhD).  With this dual training he has become involved in research on the relationship between human health and ecosystem health, and has published extensively on the environmental determinants of disease.  He is Head of the School of Population Health at the University of Western Australia, Director of Ecology and Health (which offers postgraduate training in Medical Geology), and Regional Councillor for the International Medical Geology Association (IMGA).

Back

The Workshop is intended for geologists, geochemists, ecologists, chemists, biologists, occupational and environmental scientists, medical professionals, toxicologists, epidemiologists, environmental pathologists, bio-statisticians and any other health, environmental and geo-sciences professional with interest on Medical Geology issues, particular interest on the effect of toxic metal ion species on environmental and human health. An important aim of the Course is to provide the opportunity for forming contacts and networks between professionals working in different areas of environmental and human health. The participants will receive Certificates of Attendance. The Workshop is limited to only 200 participants.