[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/frumkin edited.jpg” caption=”Dr. Howard Frumkin, Director of the National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (NCEH/ATSDR) at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. File photo.”]The “Built Environment” is a term that Public Health has increasingly borrowed from the planning and design fields.

It refers to the elements of the environment that humans create–from the small scale of furniture, rooms, homes, and schools to the intermediate scale of streets and neighborhoods to the large scale of metropolitan areas. Even natural features such as parks and wilderness are part of the Built Environment, since most of these are planned and managed by humans.

As part of its 10th anniversary celebration, the McMaster Institute of Environment and Health (MIEH) is pleased to present a lecture entitled, “Children's Health and the Built Environment” by Dr. Howard Frumkin, Director of the National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (NCEH/ATSDR) at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Frumkin's talk will be held on Friday, Nov. 3 at 3 p.m. in Convocation Hall. This lecture is open to the McMaster and Hamilton community and is free of charge. A reception will follow the talk.

This presentation will review direct and indirect impacts of the Built Environment on children's health.

Some of these impacts are negative (increasing risk), while others are positive (promoting health). For each, the health effect and its connection with the Built Environment are identified, available evidence is reviewed, and issues requiring further research are noted.

As health professionals increasingly focused on the Built Environment, working with planners, architects, geographers, and others, they are identifying approaches to designing and building healthy places.

This presentation will conclude with an overview of the public health mandate to create healthy places, especially for children, and suggest ways to advance that agenda.

The Institute of Environment and Health was established in January 1991 as a joint venture of McMaster University and the University of Toronto with the express purpose of addressing the need for innovative approaches to the study of complex relationships between the environment and human health.

The establishment of a one-stop shopping mechanism whereby those outside the University could make contacts with relevant researchers is one of the clear successes of this Institute and is a model for setting up linkages between researchers and potential clients in a University environment.

This one-stop was brought about by the amalgamation of the Institute of Environment and Health with the independent but closely related EcoResearch-funded Environmental Health Program. Chair of the Program, John Eyles, was appointed Director of the Institute in 1996.

In 2004, Bruce Newbold was appointed Director of MIEH. He has since overseen the expansion of the Institute and co-Chairs the Environment and Health theme as part of Collaborations for Health. The Institute recently partnered with the Clean Air Hamilton to present the Upwind Downwind: Cities, Air and Health conference in February 2006.

In addition, the Institute co-sponsors (with Collaborations for Health) a monthly seminar series, and holds a public lecture in conjunction with the Hamilton Industrial Environmental Association. Further details are available here.