Dear Maricela,

We are very happy to report that the Center has been awarded the ECHO 2 grant from the National Institutes of Health, NIH, which will help fund our work for the next seven years. ECHO is a national research study working to advance the health of our children. ECHO studies 50,000+ infants, teens, and their families, engages over 1, 200 researchers in 46 states and territories and has produced more than 900 papers.

For the last seven years, ECHO 1 allowed us to forge ahead with our research on children’s environmental health and justice, (CEHJ). Our research and that of the other scientists in the ECHO Consortium has served to safeguard CEHJ and inform both state and federal policy. We are excited to continue to build on our Center’s solid research and educations systems.

In the coming months, the Center will kick-off 2 new studies:

1) Arsenic and Rice Consumption Study will explore how different cultures prepare rice, and how their preferences of rice grains and consumption behaviors may impact arsenic exposure. This will be framed within the context of a warming climate and decreased food supply.

2) Airway Tree Study aims to investigate how environmental factors during early life may influence lung health. Previous research has shown that exposures to pollutants, allergies, viruses, and bacteria in early stages of development can affect lung health later on. This study will increase our understanding of the underlying causes of lung diseases.

We are happy to introduce you to our new faculty member, Dr. Marcela Tamayo Ortiz, and to our summer interns and practicum students. Meet our next generation of scientists, advocates, policy makers and environmentally minded citizens, their bios below.

Happy Safe Summer!

Welcome to EHS & CCCEH

Dr. Marcela Tamayo Ortiz will be joining us as an Associate Professor on July 1. Dr. Tamayo Ortiz has been working with the Mexican Institute of Social Security, where she has served as the Head of the Occupational Health Research Unit since 2020. She is a professor at the National Institute of Public Health-Mexico, where she mentored over a dozen graduate students and trainees.

She holds an ScD in environmental health from the T.H. Chan Harvard School of Public Health and is a renowned expert on the effects of chemical and non-chemical exposures on maternal-child health. She has been involved in various US-Mexico NIH-funded collaborations, including long-standing partnerships with the PROGRESS and ELEMENT birth cohorts. In recognition of her contributions to the field of environmental epidemiology, Dr. Tamayo Ortiz currently serves as the chair of the Latin-American and Caribbean Chapter of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology.

Dr. Tamayo Ortiz will collaborate with CCCEH's Community Outreach and Translation Core, she also is a team member of Little Things Matter. She loves music and is an avid swimmer, already splashing about in NYC's pools.

¡Bienvenida Doctora!

CCCEH Publications

Summer Interns and Practicum Students

Lela Tu

Emmy Sale

Rachel Chen

Ziting Huang

Alícia Kelley

See Alícia Kelley's presentation below.

Summertime Gatherings

High school interns visit the

Center’s Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory, the METlab & Dr. Pearson's Lab

Youth observations:

The young women were impressed by the different paths their hosts experienced before coming to Columbia in pursuit of environmental science and justice careers, "they were so knowledgeable and passionate about their work", Lela and Emmy agreed and ".... it is nice for us to meet Dr. Schilling, a woman and a respected lab Director.

We enjoyed learning about the element tellurium, understanding

" -omics" and more on arsenic and mercury. We knew we were chatting with amazing detail-oriented scientists when Dr. Glabonjat told us the machine that processes the metals identification takes "3 minutes and 36 seconds".

After visiting with Dr. Pearson, Emmy shared, "...visiting the lab helped me see how my "AP chemistry class translates to life and career." Lela was especially impressed to learn, that the aftermath of wild fire led Dr. Pearson to continue at his college internship becasue "he really wanted to learn about how animals manage distress after the fire..that was cool ...so is that what led him to study the impact of complex environmental stressors during development and across the life course like it says on his bio?"

Children's Aid Society

Salome Ureña Parent Group

Air Pollution and Safety Session

To meet the needs of our community partners, Anabel Cole, CCCEH's Community Outreach Coordinator, met with over 25 women from Washington Heights, Salome Ureña Group to address the health risks New Yorkers could face as a result of the Canadian wild fires. The session addressed air pollution, air quality, risks to young children and elderly and safety measures. In addition to providing NYC DOH resources, the group was taught how to make a Corsi-Rosenthal box filter, which uses easily accessible items to build a home-made effective air filter. See links below to make your own.

Community Activities/Resources

We Are Recruiting

Help us create a world in which every child has a healthy start.

The Center’s research is powering action to reduce the impacts of climate change, air pollution, and toxic chemicals on children and families.

Your support is yielding both immediate and long-term benefits to children’s health today and in the future. Your gift will protect the gains that we have achieved together.

We hope you will make a tax-free gift donation to the Center in order to continue this important work. 

With Gratitude

Julie Herbstman, PhD

Director, Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health

Frederica P. Perera, DrPH, PhD

Director of Translational Research and Founding Director

Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health



Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health

mailman.columbia.edu/ccceh