ANNOUNCING
2008-09 CLF Predoctoral Fellows

The Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) has awarded predoctoral fellowships to 12 students for the 2008-2009 academic year. This year, for the first time, CLF Predoctoral Fellowships have been awarded to Johns Hopkins University predoctoral students who are committed to the discovery and/or application of knowledge in one of CLF’s three program areas: Farming for the Future; Eating for the Future; and Living for the Future.

Farming for the Future Predoctoral Fellowships have been awarded to Dr. Carmen Arriola, a second year CLF Predoctoral Fellow and student in International Health; Edward Broughton, International Health; Beth Feingold, Environmental Health Sciences; Jillian Parry Fry, Health Policy and Management; Amy Peterson, Epidemiology, and second year CLF Predoctoral Fellow; and D’Ann Williams, Environmental Health Sciences, and second year CLF Predoctoral Fellow.

Eating for the Future Predoctoral Fellowships have been awarded to Julia DeBruicker, a student in Health, Behavior and Society; Jennifer Hartle, Environmental Health Sciences; Sohyun Park, International Health; and Dr. Manjunath Shankar, International Health.

Living for the Future Predoctoral Fellowships have been awarded to Kristen Gibson, Environmental Health Sciences and a third year CLF Predoctoral Fellow; and Gila Neta, Epidemiology.
  

Dr. Carmen Arriola is a veterinarian with a DVM degree from San Marcos Major National University in Lima, Peru and a fourth year PhD student. She is concerned about the vulnerability of human populations to the health and economic impacts of zoonotic (animal to human) diseases. Dr. Arriola's proposed research is the first systematic study of the environmental and public health impact of the porcine industry in Peru. She hopes to apply her research findings to practical uses, especially for underserved populations around the world. Her doctoral advisor is Lawrence Moulton, PhD, a professor in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Department of International Health. Her project advisors are Robert Gilman, MD, also a professor in the Department of International Health and Ellen Silbergeld, PhD, professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences.

Edward Broughton’s experience with his family’s shellfish farms in Australia led to his interest in aquaculture and human health. As a third year PhD student, his research will examine the association between antibiotic use in food fish production and zoonotic infections. Specifically, he will investigate antibiotic resistant and susceptible salmonella bacteria in farmed fish from Guangdong, China and the risk this poses to humans. He would like to add to the body of knowledge that guides policies for antibiotic use in aquaculture at the national and international levels. Mr. Broughton earned his Bachelors in Applied Science degree from Curtin University in Perth, Australia and his MPH from Columbia University. His advisor is Damian Walker, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of International Health.

Beth Feingold, MPH, is a second year PhD student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences Division of Environmental Health Engineering.  Beth has proposed to use satellite remote sensing to locate Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) based on the spatial and spectral signatures of the animal houses and manure lagoons in order to better estimate their contribution to large scale ecosystem and human health burdens of pollution and disease. Beth holds a Master of Public Health and a Master of Environmental Science from Yale University, and a BA in Geology from Vassar College.  Her advisor is Ellen Silbergeld, PhD, professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences.

Jillian Parry Fry, MPH, is a second year PhD student in the Health Policy and Management Department.  She received her undergraduate degree in Biobehavioral Health from the Pennsylvania State University and her Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of New Mexico.  Current research interests include examining the impact of industrial food animal production sites on surrounding communities from a human rights perspective.  Her doctoral advisor is Robert Lawrence, MD, Director, Center for a Livable Future, and professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. Her faculty advisor is Daniel Webster, MPH ScD, associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management. 

Dr. Amy Peterson received her DVM from Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine in 2001. She spent two years in both large and small animal clinical practice in addition to participating in the control and eradication efforts during the 2001 United Kingdom Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic. Her proposed research is to investigate animal reservoirs of MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and the role of large-scale industrial agriculture in environmental spread of animal MRSA to surrounding communities by evaluating MRSA presence and clonal profile at hospital admission in a rural tertiary care hospital center. Dr. Peterson’s doctoral advisors are Ellen Silbergeld, PhD, professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, and Kenrad Nelson, MD, professor in the Department of Epidemiology.

D’Ann Williams, MS, is a DrPH student at the Bloomberg School of Public Health while also working in the Division of Environmental Health Engineering.  She received an undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences from Towson University and a Master’s degree in Environmental Sciences from the Johns Hopkins University. At the Center for Asthma in the Urban Environment, she focuses on environmental sampling to evaluate source exposure and environmental determinants of asthma. In 2001, working with a NIEHS/JHSPH team at the World Trade Center, she investigated airborne exposures of workers. She also worked in New Orleans to assess airborne mold levels within the city after Hurricane Katrina. Her proposed research is to assess the exposure of dairy CAFO contaminants in indoor and outdoor environments in Yakima Valley Washington. Her research advisor is Patrick Breysse, PhD, professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, and her doctoral advisor is Alison Geyh, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences.

Julia DeBruicker, MHS, is a third year PhD student in the Department of Health, Behavior and Society. She will examine the sustainable food movement as it is unfolding in the United States. Her goal is to uncover what is driving this growing consumer sector. What are its participants trying to get away from in ordinary, supermarket food, and what do they want out of food that has been raised to a higher standard? Her work will prepare a blueprint for how the values, priorities and momentum that underlie this movement can contribute to the agricultural and food policy agenda the field of public health is developing. Julia will situate her research in a Midwestern agricultural region, to prepare an ethnographic description and a regional model that can inform other places.  Her faculty advisor is Peter Winch, associate professor of Social and Behavioral Interventions in the Department of International Health.  

Jennifer Hartle is interested in investigating how to change current eating patterns in high-income countries to reduce human impact on the environment. She plans to discover and evaluate current management plans designed to change eating habits. Utilizing their successful initiatives, she plans to construct a program in behavioral change that can be introduced on a larger scale. Ms. Hartle received a BA in Environmental Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley, and her MHS from the Bloomberg School of Public Health. She has been working as an industrial hygienist in the energy production and semiconductor industries for the past eight years. Ms. Hartle will begin her doctoral studies in January 2009. Her initial academic advisor is Robert S. Lawrence, MD, professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, and her faculty advisor is Norma Kanarek, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences.

Sohyun Park is interested in making healthy eating choices easy ones. Her background in Nutrition and Food Policy with experience at the Korea Food and Drug Administration as an associate researcher led to the doctoral program in the Center for Human Nutrition at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.  Her research will focus on environmental and structural changes for preventing childhood obesity in South Korea.  She wants to develop strategies to make healthy eating choices more available and accessible to children and adolescents in food outlets. She earned her BS in Food and Nutrition from Ewha University in Seoul, South Korea, and a MS from Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts. Her advisor is Dr. Joel Gittelsohn, an associate professor in the Department of International Health. Sohyun is now a second year doctoral student in the Center for Human Nutrition in the Department of International Health.

Dr. Manjunath Shankar considers himself to be an heterodox health economist and has been influenced by the works of Amartya Sen, Herman Daly, and E.F. Schumacher. As a fourth year PhD student, his research will evaluate the impact of kitchen gardens on women’s empowerment and food security using the capability approach framework developed by Amartya Sen. Dr. Shankar graduated in medicine from Bangalore University and earned a Master in Health Administration from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India.  His research interests include primary health care, community empowerment and heterodox economics. His advisors are Drs. Alan Sorkin and Carl Taylor in the Department of International Health.

Kristen Gibson is interested in the environmental and public health impacts of industrial animal production through surface and groundwater transport of emerging human and animal pathogens.  Over the past five years she has conducted research within the Johns Hopkins Center for Water and Health and has been involved in projects addressing some of the public health consequences of industrial animal production. As a third year doctoral student and a third year CLF Predoctoral Fellow, she plans to continue developing new methods to investigate emerging pathogens and their persistence and transport through surface and groundwater sources potentially impacted by industrial animal production. Ms. Gibson earned her BS degree in microbiology and molecular biology from the University of Central Florida. Her doctoral advisor is Kellogg Schwab, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences.

Gila Neta, MPP, is a fifth year doctoral candidate in the Epidemiology Department's Environmental and Occupational Division at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her dissertation research focuses on the public health consequences of pesticides. She is investigating the effects of prenatal exposures to persistent and non-persistent insecticides in a cohort of babies born in Baltimore as part of the THREE Study (Tracking Health Related to Environmental Exposures). She is exploring the risk factors for exposure to pesticides and examining the associations between levels of pesticides in cord blood and the effects on fetal growth and development and on the immune system. Her dissertation advisor is Dr. Lynn Goldman, professor in Environmental Health Sciences and Epidemiology. Her academic advisor is Dr. Jonathan Samet, chair of the Department of Epidemiology.

Each predoctoral fellowship provides one year of support in an amount up to $60,000 to be used for tuition, stipend, and/or research expenses depending on individual needs. Students are eligible for support during any stage of their doctoral program Students must be enrolled in any one of the divisions of Johns Hopkins University in a PhD, ScD, or DrPH program. The CLF Predoctoral Fellowship Program, now in its sixth year, is made possible by a generous donor.