SPH Professor Awarded JPB Environmental Health Fellowship.

Madeleine Scammell, an assistant professor of environmental health, has been awarded a JPB Environmental Health Fellowship, a three-year program that will help support her BUSPH research into social and physical determinants of environmental health in disadvantaged communities.

Scammell’s areas of research include the use of qualitative methods in the area of community-driven environmental health and epidemiologic studies, mapping and monitoring community-identified environmental health hazards, and analyzing cumulative exposures to chemical and non-chemical stressors.

The JPB Environmental Health Fellowship Program, based out of the Harvard School of Public Health, supports junior faculty or early-career research scientists at institutions across the country. Fellows receive training in research and scholarship, as well as in leadership and communication.

A key aspect of the program will encourage mentorship and extended learning opportunities from recognized scientific leaders on conducting rigorous research on social and environmental factors that contribute to health disparities. Fellows receive up to $350,000 over the course of the three- to four-year program. Fellows are chosen from disciplines related to environmental health such as epidemiology, exposure sciences, social and behavioral sciences, engineering and physical and biological Sciences.

Scammell is the principal investigator of an EPA-funded community-based participatory research study of cumulative risk to social and environmental stressors in urban communities She also directs Community Engagement and Research Translation Cores of the Boston University Superfund Research Program, and the Partnerships and Collaborations Core for the Partners in Health and Housing Prevention Research Center (PHH-PRC) at Boston University.

Her work includes developing long-term mechanisms to support research relationships between community groups and scientists, and responding to community requests for assistance. Scammell serves on the Board of Health in the City of Chelsea and is also a member of the board of directors of the Science & Environmental Health Network.

The JPB Environmental Health Fellowship Program is endowed by the JPB Foundation, created by Jeffry and Barbara Picower to focus on grants with the potential to transform humanity’s understanding of issues, our scientific knowledge, and our communities. The foundation directs its giving to three program areas: alleviating problems associated with poverty, advancing medical research, and promoting a healthy environment.