Community outreach as an iterative dialogue among scientists and communities in the Texas gulf coast region

John Sullivan, Pamela D. Diamond, Cheryl L. Kaplan, Travis J. Mader, Ray Kay Santa, R. Stephen Lloyd

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    6 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    In response to significant environmental health challenges in Southeast Texas, a National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences Center at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston was created to promote and conduct inter-disciplinary research in the areas of: (1) the molecular biology of DNA repair, replication and mutagenesis, (2) asthma pathogenesis in response to oxidative stress and viral exposures, and (3) environmental toxicant biotransformation. In addition, the NIEHS Center maintains close ties with neighboring communities through an active Community Outreach & Education Program (COEP) that develops and disseminates translational materials for use in environmental health awareness outreach, toxicology consultation, K-12 curriculum enrichment and in developing site-specific Community Partnership projects. The COEP core service divisions include: Environmental Arts & Sciences, Asthma Outreach & Education, Theater Outreach & Education, and Public Forum & Toxics Assistance. Public Forums focus on the use of Augusto Boal's Forum Theater dramaturgy to include the voices and local knowledge of communities within the process of Participatory Research. Forums create the preconditions for significant partnerships that link the hazardous risk perceptions and environmental health needs of communities with the expertise of NIEHS Center investigators and translational services provided through COEP outreach programs. The Forum process also creates leadership cores within environmentally challenged communities that facilitate the ongoing translational process and maintain the vital linkage between the health needs of communities and the analytic tools and the field and clinical technologies of the environmental sciences.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)331-338
    Number of pages8
    JournalMutation Research - Reviews in Mutation Research
    Volume544
    Issue number2-3
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Nov 2003

    Keywords

    • Asthma Outreach & Education Program
    • COEP Core Service Divisions
    • Community Outreach & Education Program (COEP)
    • Environmental Arts & Sciences
    • NIEHS
    • Public Forum & Toxics Assistance Program
    • Theater Outreach & Education Program (TOE)

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Genetics
    • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

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