Academic and Research Skills

Advocacy

Children with Chronic Conditions

Community Pediatrics

Developmental Biology

Environmental Health

Epidemiology

General Pediatrics

Genomics/Epigenomics

Hematology/Oncology

Public Health

Tobacco Prevention

Childhood Cancer and the Environment

Chair(s)

• 

  Mark Miller, MD, MPH (he/him/his)

  Director emeritus, Western States Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit
  University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, California Environmental Protection Agency
  Chico, California, United States

  Slides

Session

Description: The incidence rates of several childhood cancers have increased in the past decades, and scientific studies have provided accumulating evidence of environmental contributions to these trends. Despite limited exposure to the relevant environmental epidemiologic literature, most pediatric oncologists regularly receive questions about the relationship between environmental exposures and diseases that they routinely treat. Over 90% feel that more knowledge about these associations would be helpful. We will review current epidemiologic literature on environmental and immune-related risk factors of childhood leukemia and other cancers, as well as genetic and epigenetic factors. We will explore resources for incorporating environmental health knowledge and practice into routine care and public health practice. We will discuss several well studied environmental exposure risk factors for childhood cancers including tobacco, solvents, pesticides, and air pollution. We will discuss concerns of practitioners about how to answer families questions and the role of prevention in the context of both sub-specialty and general pediatric care. This session will introduce the curriculum from recent workshops on “Childhood Cancer and the Environment” for clinical pediatric oncology providers taught by our session faculty (and funded by the CDC) as well as outcome survey results.

Presentations:

• 3:45 PM – 4:10 PM ET

  Environmental Epidemiology of Childhood Cancers
  

  Speaker: Catherine Metayer, MD, PhD (she/her/hers) – University of California, Berkeley
• 4:10 PM – 4:35 PM ET

  Developmental Origins of Childhood Cancers: Genes and Environment
  

  Speaker: Joseph L. Wiemels, PhD (he/him/his) – Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
• 4:35 PM – 5:15 PM ET

  Integrating Knowledge of Childhood Cancer Risk Factors into Primary Care and Specialty Practice
  

  Speaker: Mark Miller, MD, MPH (he/him/his) – University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, California Environmental Protection Agency