Alaska Collaborative on Health & the Environment (CHE-Alaska)

About CHE-Alaska

Scientific evidence increasingly indicates a relationship between a range of environmental factors and a wide array of chronic diseases and conditions. The Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) is an international partnership of individuals and organizations committed to addressing environmental impacts on human health across the lifespan.

CHE-Alaska is a working group of CHE established by ACAT. We hold monthly teleconference seminars and other events to advance knowledge and effective action to address growing concerns about the links between human health and environmental factors. Our speakers include scientists, health care professionals, policy experts, and community activists who are working on a range of environmental health concerns. Join our CHE-Alaska email list to be notified of upcoming CHE-Alaska calls and events. Already an ACAT supporter? Update your ACAT email preferences here.

CHE-Alaska Podcasts & Webinars:

This Year | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006

12/16/2021 – The Challenge of PFAS with Dr. Linda S. Birnbaum 

• Speaker:
  • Dr. Linda S. Birnbaum, Ph.D, toxicologist, microbiologist, Scholar in Residence at Duke University, and former director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program.

12/7/2021 – From Exploration to Closure of a Large-Scale Mine: Environmental and health impacts of the proposed Donlin Gold Mine on the watershed, communities and people of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Region

• Speakers:
  • David M. Chambers, Ph.D., P. Geop., founder and president of the Center for Science in Public Participation
  • Mary Matthias, Environmental Coordinator and former Natural Resource Director at Orutsararmuit Native Corporation

11/11/2021 – Protecting Water Quality, Health and the Environment: Urgent Questions Pertaining to PFAS with Dr. Carla Ng

• Speakers:
  • Senator Jesse Kiehl, representative for District Q (Juneau, Gustavus, Klukwan)
  • Carla Ng, Ph.D, Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh

10/28/2021 – Addressing Root Causes and Preventing Breast Cancer: A New Toolkit and Breast Cancer Action with a precautionary, prevention-oriented approach

• Speakers:
  • Samarys Seguinot-Medina, Ph.D, Environmental Health Director at Alaska Community Action on Toxics
  • Sarah Petras, MPH, Environmental Health Researcher and Program Manager based in the Netherlands.
  • Jayla Burton, MPH, MS, Program Manager at Breast Cancer Action

8/18/2021 – The extent of microplastic occurrence in Juneau, Alaska and potential effects of plastic-born chemicals on these environments

• Speakers
  • Sonia Nagorski, Ph.D, Associate Professor of Geology, University of Alaska Southeast
  • Pamela Miller, Executive Director of Alaska Community Action on Toxics and Co-Chair of IPEN (International Pollutant Elimination Network)

7/28/2021 – Microplastic pollution and the effects of phthalates and other plastic-born chemicals on Alaska’s ecosystems and Alaskans’ health 

• Speaker:
  • Veronica Padula, Academic Program Director, Bering Sea Campus and Research Center at Aleut Community of St. Paul Island

6/30/2021 – Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in Breast Milk: Findings of a New Study and Policies Needed to Protect Future Generations

• Speakers:
  • Erika Schrader, Science Director at Toxic-Free Future
  • Amina Salamova, Ph.D Associate Scientist at O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University
  • Sheela Sathyanarayana MD, MPH,  Attending Physician at Seattle Children’s Hospital & Adjunct Associate Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington

5/26/2021 – Mercury, Fish, and Public Health Concerns: The Proposed Donlin Gold Mine

• Speakers:
  • Gloria Simeon of Bethel is an ONC tribal member and on the Board of Directors for the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation.
  • Kendra Zamzow, Ph.D, is an environmental biogeochemist and the Alaska representative for the Center for Science in Public Participation (CSP2).
  • David Carpenter, Ph.D, is director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany and specializes in the human health effects of environmental contaminants, including metals and organic compounds.

4/28/2021 – Protecting Your Child’s Health: Expert Answers to Urgent Environmental Questions with Dr. Ruth Etzel

• Speaker:
  • Ruth Etzel, M.D., Ph.D.,  Pediatrician/Professor at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

3/31/2021 – Plastics, Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and Health: Findings of a New Joint Report of the Endocrine Society and International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN)

• Speakers
  • Jodi Flaws, Ph.D, lead author of this report, is a professor of comparative biosciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. The Flaws Laboratory team researches the genetic and environmental factors that affect the female reproductive system.
  • Laura Vandenberg, Ph.D, is an Associate Professor at University of Massachusetts Amherst’s School of Public Health and Health Sciences with research focused on the effects of chemical exposures during early life stages on health later in life.

2/24/2021 – Promoting Equity and Health: A Model from an Indigenous-led Marine-Science Laboratory

• Speaker
  • Max Liboiron, Ph.D, directs CLEAR (Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research), anIndigenous-led, marine plastic pollution laboratory and is an Assistant Professor of Geography at Memorial University in Newfoundland and Labrador.

1/27/2021 – Promoting a Culture of Health through Racial Healing and Transformation

• Speaker
  • Dr. Gail Christopher, Executive Director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity, Founder of the Ntainu Childrens Garden Center for Healing & Nature, and former Senior Advisor and Vice President to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

12/2/2020 – Adverse effects of PFAS on Immune System Health: Complicating recovery during the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Speaker
  • Dr. Philippe Grandjean, Head of the Environmental Medicine Research Unit at the University of Southern Denmark and adjunct professor of environmental health at the Harvard School of Public Health

1o/28/2020 – Protecting Children’s Environmental Health While Re-opening Schools: Recommendations from the Healthy Schools Network 

• Speaker
  • Claire Barnett, MBA, Executive Director of the Healthy School Network

9/30/2020 – The Proposed Pebble Mine and Threats to Our Ways of Life: Bristol Bay Communities’ Ongoing Efforts to Protect Our Cultures and Health

• Speakers
  • Alannah Hurley, Executive Director of the United Tribes of Bristol Bay
  • Dr. Cameron Wobus, Senior Scientist at Lynker Tech with specialties in geomorphology, hydrology, and climate science

7/29/2020 – Lessons Learned from the Alaskan Home Garden: Consequences and Alternatives to Pesticide Use for our Soils, Plants, and Ourselves 

• Speaker
  • Jeff Lowenfels, journalist and author on organic gardening and soil ecology

6/24/2020 Cancer-causing Consumer Products: Your Right-to-Know and Necessary Actions to Prevent Harm

• Speaker
  • Stacy Malkan, author, journalist, and co-founder and co-director of US Right To Know

4/29/2020 More Harm than Good: New Science, Legal Actions, and Policy on Oil Spill Dispersants

• Speakers
  • Claudia Polsky JD, the founding Director of the Environmental Law Clinic at UC Berkeley
  • Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, an Inupiat scholar, health professional and former mayor of Nuiqsut

3/25/2020 The Role of Mycoremediation in Alaska: Applications and limitations to mushroom-based remediation in cool climates

• Speakers
  • Birgit Hagedorn, Environmental Geochemist and owner of Sustainable Earth Research
  • Allison Dunbar and Gabe DeGange, Owners of Far North Fungi
  • Jacqueline Summers, Business Consultant at Paxaro Solutions and Sustainable Earth Research

2/26/2020 Holding Corporations Accountable for Contamination: The Role of Litigation, Regulation, and Research to Address the PFAS Problem

• Speakers:
  • Dr. Arlene Blum, Executive Director, Green Science Policy Instituteand Research Associate in Chemistry at UC Berkeley
  • Robert Bilott, Environmental Attorney and Author of the book Exposure: Poisoned Water, Corporate Greed, and One Lawyer’s Twenty-Year Battle Against DuPont
  • Pam Miller, Executive Director, Alaska Community Action on Toxics and Co-Chair, International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN)

1/29/2020 From the St. Lawrence River to St. Lawrence Island: The Role of Community Engaged Research in Achieving Environmental Health and Justice

• Speakers:
  • Dr. Elizabeth Hoover, Associate Professor of American Studies at Brown University
  • Vi Waghiyi, Environmental Health and Justice Program Director, Alaska Community Action on Toxics

12/04/2019 The Perilous State of Federal Scientific Research: Dr. Linda Birnbaum Discusses How Sidelining Science Threatens Public Health

• Speakers:
  • Dr. Linda Birnbaum
  • Vi Waghiyi, Environmental Health and Justice Program Director, Alaska Community Action on Toxics

10/16/2019 Threats to Drinking Water and Public Health in Alaska: The Scope of the PFAS Problem, Consequences of Regulatory Inaction, and Recommendations

• Speakers:
  • Diana DeFazio, Environmental Health Program Coordinator, Alaska Community Action on Toxics
  • Kelly McLaughlin, Chair, Gustavus PFAS Action Coalition (GPAC)
  • Paul Liedberg, Dillingham Resident

08/28/2019 From Breast Cancer Awareness to Action: Rethink the Pink

• Speakers:
  • Karuna Jaggar, Executive Director, Breast Cancer Action
  • Yamini Ranchod, Board Member, Breast Cancer Action

05/22/2019 International Actions to Protect Health & Environment: Report from the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs Treaty) and Global Measures to Ban PFAS

• Speakers:
  • Pamela Miller, Executive Director, Alaska Community Action on Toxics and Co-Chair, International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN)
  • Samarys Seguinot-Medina, DrPH, MSEM, Environmental Health Program Director, Alaska Community Action on Toxics
  • Vi Waghiyi, Environmental Health and Justice Program Director, Alaska Community Action on Toxics

04/24/2019 Protecting Communities from Exposure to Harmful PFAS Chemicals: The Urgent Need for Safe Drinking Water Standards in the Absence of Federal Action

• Speakers:
  • Alissa Cordner, PhD, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Whitman College
  • Katie Pelch, PhD, Senior Scientist, The Endocrine Disruption Exchange
  • Anna Reade, PhD, Staff Scientist, Natural Resources Defense Council
  • Laurel Schaider, PhD, Research Scientist, Silent Spring Institute

03/27/2019 Exploitation by Exposure: Human Rights and Toxic Exposures

• Speaker:
  • Baskut Tuncak, United Nations Special Rapporteur on hazardous substances and wastes (i.e. toxics)

02/06/2019 Toxic Hazards in Everyday Products: The Latest Science on Exposures and Adverse Health Effects of Flame Retardant Chemicals

• Speakers
  • Kate Hoffman, Assistant Research Professor, Duke University, Nicholas School of the Environment
  • Jeff Gearhart, Research Director, HealthyStuff.org, Ecology Center

01/09/2019 Mercury in Women of Child-bearing Age in 25 Countries: Study Finds Harmful Levels of Mercury in Women Across the Globe

• Speakers
  • Lee Bell, Mercury Policy Advisor, International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) and Principal Investigator of the study
  • Pamela Miller, Executive Director, ACAT and IPEN Co-Chair
  • Erika Apatiki, Community Health Researcher, Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska