A Wordle created from the panel discussion I participated in.
Neighborhoods in Los Angeles that are more than 15% Latino bear the burden of 84% of the toxic exposures in the city. We know there are health disparities related to ethnic and socioeconomic differences within our communities. Are our research and prevention efforts keeping up? The answer at the Latino Cancer Summit, held in San Francisco July 23-25, 2012, is: we need to do more. We need community partners, like Martha Sanchez (“the Latina Ellen Brockavich”) who has shut down a toxic industrial site that was right next to her children’s elementary school. We need funding partners, like the NIEHS, who are committed to investing in equitable and effective research partnerships to impact public health. We need other academic partners, like Beti Thompson, Rachel Ceballos, and Scott Adams, of the Center for Hispanic Health Promotion: Reducing Cancer Disparities at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The Summit leaders agreed that we need to work on a variety of fronts: campaigns for healthy foods and lifestyles, as well as more targeted gene-environment interaction studies in diverse populations. Here at the UW Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health, we are eager to contribute to improved health for all within our diverse communities.