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Welcome, New Team Members COLUMBIA MAILMAN SCHOOL HAS HIRED TWO KEY ADMINISTRATORS WHO WILL HELP SHAPE THE SCHOOL IN ITS SECOND CENTURY. YVONNE ORTIZ, MEd, ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION (DEI), will
Columbia University Northern Plains Superfund Research Program researchers work with the Missouri Breaks staff to sample private wells for arsenic and uranium contamination. From left to right, Rebecca White Bull, Sandy Little, Rae O'Leary, MPH, Randall Hughes, James Ross, Steven Chillirud, PhD, and Anirban Basu, PhD.
Joining Tribal Communities to Fight for Cleaner Water TRIBAL LANDS IN THE NORTHERN PLAINS ARE AFFECTED BY OVER 15,000 HAZARDOUS WASTE SITES AND 7,000 ABANDONED MINES. Now a new interdisciplinary
partnership aims to reduce exposures to hazardous metals such as uranium and arsenic in drinking water, which play a role in the high rates of heart disease and diabetes affecting rural communities. The Columbia University Northern Plains Superfund Research Program (CUNP-SRP) brings together researchers from Columbia Mailman, the Columbia Climate School, and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, along with community partners at Missouri Breaks in North Dakota and South Dakota. “Our mission is to protect water resources in tribal communities from these hazardous metal exposures through the integration of system science, innovative technology, and traditional Indigenous knowledge,” says principal investigator Ana Navas-Acien, MD, PhD, MPH, professor of Environmental Health Sciences. The researchers are working to identify areas where water needs remediation, to trace sources of contamination and pinpoint biological pathways of exposure, and to develop sustainable technologies to treat contaminated water. Community partners will work with researchers on data collection and analysis, and lead dissemination of findings to residents of three communities in North Dakota and South Dakota. The program builds on the Strong Heart Study, which linked arsenic and uranium exposures to elevated levels of cardiovascular disease in American Indian communities in the Northern Plains. The study dates to the 1980s, and Navas-Acien has led its environmental work since 2008.
Photographs, from left: iStock; Adelina Rolea; Lucas Hoeffel; courtesy of subject
bring her considerable expertise working with students and educational institutions to deepen and elevate DEI initiatives across the School. Her work will include strengthening the sense of belonging and shared community across the School and supporting the recruitment and retention of students, faculty, and staff from marginalized communities. A former university dean of student affairs and medical school director of DEI, Ortiz has a strong history of aligning communities to enhance instruction, leadership, systems, and culture to promote equity. JOHN BEARD, MBBS, PhD, IRENE DIAMOND PROFESSOR AND DIRECTOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL LONGEVITY CENTER-USA, will lead the Cen-
ter’s work to translate knowledge of global trends in healthy longevity and catalyze societal change that can enable people of all ages to reimagine the second half of life. From 2009 to 2019, Beard was director of the Department of Ageing and Life Course with the World Health Organization, where he led major global initiatives. He has worked extensively with the World Economic Forum, including as chair of their Global Agenda Council on Ageing, and was a commissioner with the recent U.S. National Academy of Medicine Commission on Healthy Longevity. publichealth.columbia.edu
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