Environmental Health Sciences

Christine Marie George is a second year PhD student in the Molecular Toxicology track in the Environmental Health Sciences Department. She received her Environmental Engineering degree from Stanford University. Ms. George’s journey in Environmental Health started during her undergraduate career when she conducted research on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico for three years. She worked closely with Native communities to determine their exposure to uranium from abandoned uranium mines located near many homes. During her second year at Columbia University she participated in the Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity (IMSD) where she was able to learn about developing her research goals, selecting a faculty mentor, and the journey to academia. She worked with her fellow IMSD students to host a Student Research Diversity Day Conference to encourage high school and undergraduate students to pursue opportunities in public health. In April 2009 Ms. George received the Toxicology Scholar award which allowed her to conduct an educational outreach lecture series on graduate school and research opportunities at tribal colleges in North Dakota.

During her time at Columbia University Ms. George’s research has been focused on developing strategies for reducing exposure and body burden of arsenic in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh over 50 million people are exposed to naturally occurring arsenic concentrations exceeding the World Health Organization’s standard. Ingested inorganic arsenic can cause cancer of the skin, bladder, and lung, and has been linked to other health effects, including reproductive and developmental effects, cardiovascular disease, nonmalignant lung disease, and skin lesions. In January 2008 Ms. George went to Bangladesh to conduct a field study evaluating the effectiveness of household arsenic removal systems in rural villages. She presented the finding of this work at the International Congress on Arsenic in the Environment in Valencia, Spain. She was recently awarded the Fulbright Fellowship and will be continuing her dissertation work in Bangladesh this fall. For her Fulbright award she will be implementing and evaluating a community based arsenic mitigation intervention to reduce arsenic exposure in villages in Bangladesh.

For more information about participating in the Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity, please visit the IMSD website.