Reducing Exposures to Reverse Rates of Chronic Disease
Background and History of the Environmental Health Program
The Environmental Health Program team shares the conviction that just and cost-effective solutions that address the primary determinants of health can be found in societal choices about our sources and uses of energy, our food production systems, our transportation and building infrastructure, the products we buy, the kind of health care we deliver and pay for, and the health and environmental policies we enact or fail to enact. EHP joined the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production and its sister organization the Toxics Use Reduction Institute to pair our expertise in environmental aspects of disease and well-being, and in public health policies and programs, with their capacity in promoting safer alternatives to hazardous products and processes. Our marriage is six years old and thriving.
Dick Clapp and Polly Hoppin have collaborated for over twenty years, and began formally working together in 2001. Molly Jacobs joined our team in 2002. Dick’s long history of contribution to environmental health includes directing a community health center and a state cancer registry, and many years as a Professor and mentor to students and advocacy organizations around the globe. Polly’s career includes a decade with World Wildlife Fund, including launching a successful program in agricultural pollution prevention; senior assignments in environmental health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and board leadership for public health and environmental organizations. Molly came to us from the Department of Public Health in Massachusetts, where she managed epidemiological studies. Since her entry into academia, she has distinguished herself as a rigorous researcher with phenomenal organizing and people skills. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with our extraordinary colleagues at the Lowell Center and TURI, and with many collaborating organizations.
