Release

14th Annual Poster Day for UAlbany's School of Public Health
Keynoter, Harvard's Douglas Dockery, will discuss "Effects of short-term air pollution on cardiovascular events"

Contact: Catherine Herman (518) 437-4980

ALBANY, N.Y. (April 21, 2005) - Students examining such topics as mosquitoes that carry malaria in Central and South America and perinatal risks for childhood cancer will present their research at the 14th Annual Poster Day of the School of Public Health at the University at Albany. The event will be held on Friday, April 22, 10:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. in the Albany Law School Gymnasium. Students enrolled in masters or doctor of public health programs within the school will present their research data.

The event, a replica of a professional conference poster session, is offered to students as an invaluable, real life scientific opportunity to present their research data, demonstrate and sharpen their communication skills and learn how to test and defend a scientific hypothesis.

UAlbany students representing five academic (Biomedical Sciences; Biometry and Statistics, Epidemiology, Environmental Health and Toxicology and Health Policy, Management and Behavior) and professional education departments will participate in the Poster Day. Each poster will be evaluated by faculty members.

Poster Day will continue with the keynote address and awards presentation ceremony from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the David Axelrod Institute Auditorium. Keynote speaker Douglas Dockery, professor of environmental epidemiology at Harvard's School of Public Health, will discuss "Effects of short-term air pollution on cardiovascular events."

Dockery has studied the health effects of air pollution exposures in populations who have been followed for up to twenty-five years. In the past five years, Dockery and his colleagues have reported that episodes of particulate air pollution are consistently associated with increased daily mortality, increased hospital admissions and emergency room visits, exacerbation of asthma, increased respiratory symptoms and lower lung function. His current research is attempting to more specifically identify the chemical and physical characteristics of those particles responsible for the observed adverse health effects.

Dockery received his master's in public health at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his doctorate at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The event is sponsored by the School of Public Health, the Wadsworth Center of the NYSDOH, Health Research Inc. and numerous local businesses.