MCLA Green Living Seminar Series Presents ‘Public Health and Community Based Participatory Research in Urban Environmental Justice Communities’ with Dr. Madeleine L. Scammell March 23

March 8, 2022

Dr. Madeleine L. Scammell, Boston University School of Public Health, Associate Professor of Environmental Health, will give a talk titled “Public Health and Community Based Participatory Research in Urban Environmental Justice Communities” at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 23 at the MCLA Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation, Room 121.  

Part of MCLA’s Green Living Seminar series, this event is free and open to the public. Please note that masks are required in all buildings on MCLA’s campus. 

About Dr. Madeleine L. Scammell 

Dr. Scammell is an Associate Professor of Environmental Health at Boston University School of Public Health and a JPB Environmental Health Fellow at Harvard School of Public Health. Her expertise is in the area of community-driven and community-based participatory research and includes the use of qualitative methods in the area of environmental health and epidemiologic studies. Dr. Scammell is Principal Investigator of a recently funded longitudinal study of agricultural workers in El Salvador, focused on identifying and preventing exposures that may contribute to the epidemic of chronic kidney disease in Central America known as Mesoamerican Nephropathy (MeN). She also leads a study examining health care claims and electronic medical records examining incidence, prevalence and risk factors of chronic kidney disease in the US. Dr. Scammell is also a member of the Consortium for the Epidemic of Nephropathy in Central America and Mexico.  

Additionally, Dr. Scammell leads the Community Engagement Cores of two research centers: The Boston University Superfund Research Center (funded by NIEHS/NIH), and the Center for Research on Social and Environmental Stressors in Housing across the Lifecourse (joint center between Boston University and Harvard-Chan School of Public Health funded by NIMHD/NIH and EPA). In this capacity her work includes developing mechanisms to support long-and short-term research relationships between community groups and scientists, and responding to community requests for scientific assistance. Dr. Scammell has also partnered with the Boston Housing Authority, the Boston Public Health Commission and investigators at the Boston University School of Social Work on several studies to address systemic, social and structural environmental health stressors in the home environment. Dr. Scammell serves of the Board of Health in the City of Chelsea, and as Chair of the board of directors of the Science & Environmental Health Network. 

MCLA’s annual Green Living Seminar Series continues through April, presenting a series of lectures on the theme of “Greening the City.” Every semester, the Green Living Seminar Series centers around a different topic, timely and relevant in current sustainability issues. Seminars take place on Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. until April 20.  

The series is a presentation of the MCLA Environmental Studies Department and MCLA’s Berkshire Environmental Resource Center. 

Presentations will also be broadcast on Northern Berkshire Community Television Channel (NBCTC) 1302 at the following times: 

  • Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.
  • Fridays at 4 p.m.
  • Saturdays at 3:30 p.m.
  • Sundays at 11:30 a.m.
  • Mondays at 5:30 p.m. 

Recordings will also be available on the College’s YouTube channel. 

For more information, visit www.mcla.edu/greenliving or contact Professor of Environmental Studies Elena Traister at (413) 662-5303.