Research Translation
Resource Team
Celia Chen, Ph.D. PI, Research Translation Core
Laurie Rardin, M.E.S. Research Translation Coordinator
Nancy Serrell, M.A. Research Translation Core Advisor
The Research Translation Core (RTC), informs and educates federal and state environmental agencies, scientific colleagues, interest groups and the public about Dartmouth's toxic metals research findings. Creating responsive dialogue between investigators in the program and its stakeholders is a key component of the RTC, to ensure that research questions and results are used in the most effective ways possible.
Examples of some of our most recent projects on arsenic and mercury are listed below. Please contact us if you would like more information on our research, would be interested in discussing a collaboration opportunity, or if you have suggestions for additional ways in which we can reach our stakeholders with information on the ways in which arsenic and mercury impact environmental public health.
To learn more about our program, please browse further through this website or clickHERE for a two page fact sheet.
To sign up for our quarterly E-Newsletter, click HERE
Northeast Regional Arsenic Consortium
On February 16, 2011 Dartmouth researchers and stakeholders in the field of arsenic study gathered in Hanover for a day-long meeting to discuss the issue of arsenic in well-water and other health-related impacts of arsenic in the environment. Click here for more information.
Recent Powerpoint presentations by Laurie Rardin, Research Translation Coordinator and Paul Susca, NH DES given to the New Hampshire Association of Realtors. powerpoint presentation #1, (Laurie Rardin) and powerpoint presentation #2 (Paul Susca)
In Small Doses: Arsenic
Click here to learn more about arsenic in well water and how to get your well tested.
The RTC recently completed a short movie entitled, “In Small Doses: Arsenic,” to help private well-owners and the general public think about the risks associated with exposure to potentially harmful amounts of arsenic in their drinking water. The ten minute video explains how naturally occurring arsenic moves into groundwater, how it is detected, what can be done to remove it, and the current science surrounding the question of how much is too much? To view the film, please click on IN SMALL DOSES here. If you would like to link to the movie from your website, please use this link, www.InSmallDoses.org.
Arsenic in Food
To learn more about Project 9, Arsenic Uptake, Transport and Accumulation in Plants, click here
To learn more about our pilot project, Market Basket Study of Arsenic Concentration and Speciation in Locally-Available Rice-Based Baby Cereals and Related Products, click here
C-MERC: Coastal and Marine Mercury Ecosystem Research Collaborative
Despite the significant connection between the bioaccumulation of mercury in marine food webs and the consumption of fish by humans, many important uncertainties and gaps exist in our understanding of the sources of methylmercury in marine systems and the pathways to human exposure. The Coastal and Marine Mercury Ecosystem Research Collaborative (C-MERC), sponsored by the Dartmouth College Toxic Metals Research Program, is working to address these important questions. Guided by a steering committee and support staff, C-MERC has convened a team of scientists and stakeholders to work together over a two-year period to gather and analyze data to publish papers which will elucidate key processes related to the inputs, cycling and uptake of mercury in marine ecosystems. The salient findings from this initiative will be translated and distributed to public health and policy stakeholders.
To learn more about mercury and safe fish consumption visit Stony Brook University's website The Gelfond Fund for Mercury Research and Outreach.
Past Research Translation: What Do Potential Users Want to Know?
“What Fish Can We Eat?”
The Toxic Metals Research Program at Dartmouth is studying the movement of metals such as mercury through the aquatic food web and into the fish people eat. Past translation activities have supported state agencies in disseminating fish consumption advice. In 2005 we conducted a survey of grocery store shoppers that suggested that audiences play an active role in processing risk messages on fish consumption. Questions raised by this survey led us to conduct a more detailed analysis of audience response to fish consumption advice. We chose to test responses to supermarket fish advisory posters because of legislative efforts in several nearby states to require grocery stores to display mercury warnings at fish counters. Our partners in several of these states supplied their posters for us to test. We also agreed to share findings with our partners at New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, as part of an Environmental Protection Agency grant that included updating of the state's fish advisory brochure for women of childbearing age.
Risk Workshop
A one day seminar provided attendees with a thorough understanding of the basics of Risk Assessment from expert Dr. Charles Menzie.
