Global Health and Justice

Dr. Deena B. Thomas, Research Analyst at University of Michigan

Dr. Deena B. Thomas, a Research Analyst at the University of Michigan, works on the environmental and social causes of adverse health in the United States and around the world. In this presentation she will review her research, based on a dataset from Mexico City, showing that maternal intake of recommended doses of fluoride during pregnancy negatively impacts offspring cognition. This result raises questions about a potential trade-off between dental health and prenatal health that may have important implications for public health policies. She will also share her research showing that environmental exposure to the heavy metal toxicant persisted in elementary schools even 10 years after leaded gasoline was phased out in India. The latter was very unexpected since, in other countries, lead levels in children dropped after leaded gasoline was phased out.