SER is the intellectual home for epidemiologists. In my over 25 years of membership, SER has provided a forum to learn cutting edge methods, to appreciate the depth and breathe of our discipline and to meet others with a similar passion. I am a Professor of Epidemiology and Associated Dean for Research Resources at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University with a strong research, teaching and mentoring program. My research focuses on the associations between prenatal exposures to environmental agents (defined broadly as contaminants, nutritional factors and stress) and outcomes across the life span. Although most of my work has focused on neurodevelopmental and reproductive outcomes, my more recent work includes metabolic outcomes. I also have a broad research focus on the environmental epidemiology of neurological disorders, particularly essential tremor and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. My work is highly interdisciplinary and includes collaborations with laboratory scientists, exposure specialists, clinicians, statisticians and other epidemiologists. Participation in SER activities is rewarding for the opportunity to give back to the society. I am currently on the membership committee. My roles as a co-founder of and as a participant on the scientific committee of The New York City Epidemiology Forum (NYCEF), a 2-year old society which brings together epidemiologists from academic departments and government agencies in the New York City area, gives me an opportunity to market SER as the premier organization for epidemiologists. We were pleased to host the NYCEF conference at Columbia this year, and over 300 participants were able to share their work and network with others; SER was generous to award a prize to the best poster.
If elected to the Executive Committee of SER, I would focus my efforts on bridging local events with the national society, as we have done in New York. This is both an opportunity to increase membership in SER and to showcase the benefits of participation in SER events including the annual meetings. Additionally I will focus efforts on other membership activities including reaching out to the new schools and programs in public health to inform them of the activities that SER provides (SER talks, SER playlists, etc) and encourage them to have their faculty and students partake in these activities.
In summary, it is an honor to be nominated to the Executive Committee of SER. I would be very pleased to serve the organization that I consider the backbone of epidemiologists.
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