Experts to Explore Links Between Health Problems and the Built Environment

NEW YORK CITY, March 21??? The prevalence of chronic diseases like obesity, asthma, diabetes, heart disease and depression is increasing in our society, in part because of how we have designed our built environment. Our increasing reliance on automobiles leads to degraded air quality and exacerbates lung disease, for example. A lack of sidewalks and bike paths connecting sprawling suburban communities is similarly linked to obesity in our society.

The effects of our built environment on human health, and the policy implications of the connection between the two, will be the focus of a daylong conference on Tuesday, March 25 at The New York Academy of Medicine. Health experts, planners, architects, social scientists and policy makers will outline specific cause-and-effect relationships between the built environment and health problems, and pinpoint policy initiatives that can positively affect health through regional and local planning. The media is invited to attend. Lunch will be served. Please call Kathryn Cervino at 212.822.7285, or email kcervino@nyam.org, to be placed on the media list for this event.

The keynote address will be given by Richard J. Jackson, M.D., M.P.H., Director of the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Topics and other speakers include:

• A conceptual framework: relating the built environment to health, Mary Northridge, Editor-in-chief, American Journal of Public Health, and Associate Professor, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

• Residential environments and cardiovascular risk, Anna Diez Roux, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Associate Director of the Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, University of Michigan

• The built environment and mental health, Gary Evans, Ph.D., Professor, Departments of Design and Environmental Analysis and Human Development, Cornell University

• Luncheon address: urban development, pressure politics and human well being, Harold V. Savitch, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Urban and Public Affairs, University of Louisville

• Urban Planning, Elliot Sclar, Ph.D., Director, Urban Planning Program, Columbia University

• Policy development, Richard T. Roberts, J.D., President, Urban Investment Group, Goldman, Sachs and Company

• Implementation of existing laws, Robert Kulikowski, Ph.D., Director, New York City Office of Environmental Coordination

• Shaping and responding to policy, Robert D.Yaro, Executive Director, Regional Plan Association

Researchers and key officials from the Academy, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Emory University School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health will also participate, as will Senator Toni Nathaniel Harp of Connecticut. A summary of the day and a discussion of proposed future research and policy agendas will be presented by Allan Rosenfield, M.D., Dean of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University; and by Daniel M. Fox, Ph.D., President of the Milbank Memorial Fund.

The conference will begin at 8:30 a.m. and end with a 5:30 p.m. reception. Visit nyam.org/about/directions.shtml for directions to the Academy. The event is co-sponsored by the Academy and the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with involvement of The Milbank Memorial Fund and the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. The New York Academy of Medicine is a non-profit institution founded in 1847 that is dedicated to enhancing the health of the public through research, education and advocacy, with a particular focus on urban populations, especially the disadvantaged.

Posted on March 21, 2003

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Contact:
Andrew J. Martin
Director of Communications
The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10029
212-822-7285
amartin@nyam.org

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