UK-SRP Program Director Dr. Bernhard Hennig presents Wyatt appreciation plaques
to Dr. William Suk (left) and Dr. Philip Landrigan (right)

Drs. Suk and Landrigan Speak at Inaugural John P. Wyatt Lecture

(November 2008) -- Two national leaders in the field of environmental health and disease addressed the University of Kentucky community in the inaugural John P. Wyatt Lecture on Wednesday, November 5th. Dr. William A. Suk, acting deputy director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and National Toxicology Program, and Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, director of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine Children's Environmental Health Center, joined three invited doctoral and postdoctoral scholars for the event.

As acting deputy director of NIEHS, Dr. Suk assists the director in the formulation and implementation of plans and policies necessary to carry out the missions of NIEHS/NIH and the National Toxicology Program. Dr. Suk previously has served as director of the NIEHS Superfund Hazardous Substances Basic Research and Training Program and currently is director of the Center for Risk and Integrated Sciences. He has published extensively on issues linking exposures with disease and on research and prevention strategies to reduce risks of environmentally induced diseases and disorders. His presentation for the Wyatt Lecture was entitled "Environmental Exposure and Disease Links in Global Health: Addressing Health Needs and Disease Outcomes".

Dr. Landrigan is a pediatrician, epidemiologist, and internationally recognized leader in public health and preventive medicine. Dr. Landrigan is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and he is known for his many decades of work in protecting children against environmental threats to health, most notably lead and pesticides. Dr. Landrigan served for 15 years as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer and medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). In addition, Dr. Landrigan has been centrally involved in the medical and epidemiologic studies that followed the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Dr. Landrigan's presentation was entitled "Children's Health and the Environment: The Problem and the Solution".

In addition to Drs. Suk and Landrigan, University of Kentucky doctoral student Zuzana Majkova and postdoctoral scholar Dr. Jignesh Pandya spoke about their own environmental health research. Also speaking about related research was invited Michigan State University doctoral student Haitian Lu.

The inaugural John P. Wyatt Lecture was made possible through the Dr. John P. Wyatt Endowment at the University of Kentucky, as well as by the Office of the Vice President for Research, the College of Agriculture, and the University of Kentucky Superfund Research Program.

Dr. Nancy Cox, Associate Dean for Research in the College of Agriculture, kicked off the Wyatt Lecture	Dr. Kumble Subbaswamy, University of Kentucky Provost, provided opening remarks
Dr. Hennig welcomed the speakers and audience	Dr. Suk presented "Environmental Exposure and Disease Links in Global Health: Addressing Health Needs and Disease Outcomes"
Dr. Landrigan presented "Children's Health and the Environment: The Problem and the Solution"	Dr. Pandya presented "Trichloroethylene: Parkinsonism and Complex 1 Mitochondrial Neurotoxicity"
Haitian Lu presented "A Strategy for Assessing Human B Lymphocyte Sensitivity to TCDD and Dioxin-Like Compounds"	Zuzana Majkova presented "The Role of Caveolae in Vascular Diseases Associated with Exposure to Environmental Pollutants"