The 28th Annual Conference of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE) will be held at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome, Italy, from September 1st-4th, 2016. This year's conference theme will be ?Old and New Risks: Challenges for Environmental Epidemiology,? and the scientific program will be oriented by the theme of the challenges facing environmental epidemiology from old and new risks like dioxin exposures, novel oil and gas exploration approaches, and global climate change. The meeting will be comprised of 3 and half days of presentation of new and developing research, and will offer a platform for discussion and collaboration across a wide variety of scientific fields of interest in the field of environmental public health. The conference will include plenary sessions with invited keynote speakers, oral and poster presentations of research selected by the Scientific Planning Committee from submitted abstracts, and breakout sessions allowing for in-depth discussion of specific topics across the field of environmental epidemiological research. Examples of topics include: the exposure and health effects of air pollution, global climate change, the built environment, persistent organic pollutants, and epidemiologic methods. Meeting goals are to present our current understanding of issues in environmental epidemiology, and provide novel research strategies to ameliorate the health impacts of environmental agents. The meeting will welcome participants from developed and developing nations, and we will facilitate the attendance of participants from developing countries to assure representation from not only North America and Western Europe, but also researchers from Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa, South and Central America, and Australia. By awarding registration fee waivers and travel grants funded by this proposed grant, we will ensure participation and presentations by investigators from low-income developing countries and under-represented minorities. The requested funds will also support the travel of 1-2 plenary speakers who typically would not attend the ISEE meeting, but who bring important new perspectives to the conference attendees, broadening their experience and helping to forge new directions and collaborations. In addition the requested funds will help to offset the costs associated with publication and dissemination of the conference proceedings. The 2016 conference location in Rome, Italy is particularly timely as it capitalizes on the attention brought to environmental issues by the first ever papal encyclical devoted to the environment and the 40th anniversary of the plant explosion in Seveso, Italy when many were exposed to dioxin. This conference is the premier conference on environmental epidemiology and serves a critical role in educating new investigators and in facilitating the development of novel strategies, and new collaborations, to ameliorate public health burdens imposed by environmental hazards across the world.
The ISEE annual conference plays a vital role in facilitating a dialogue among leading environmental epidemiologists from across the world. Requested support for non-traditional plenary speakers and under- represented minority and developing country researchers plays an instrumental role in furthering the education of ISEE members and fostering the kind of global exchange of ideas to foster new strategies and new collaborations to ameliorate the public health burden of environmental hazards around the world.
