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  • Home
  • About Us
    • Overview
    • Our Team
    • Our Trainees
    • Our Partners
    • Contact Us
  • News
    • Upcoming Seminars
    • Previous Seminars
    • Blog
    • SRP Newsletter
    • Featured News Stories
    • Social Media
  • Resources
    • Community Resources
    • All About PAHs
    • Infographics
    • Videos
    • Mercury, The Community, and Me
    • Unsolved Mysteries of Human Health
    • K - 12 Educational Materials
    • Glossary of Project Terms
    • Research Resources
    • Zebrafish Model
    • Passive Sampling Devices
    • OSU Disaster IRB
    • SRP Analytics Portal
    • Multimedia approach to sampling and Health Risk Assessments
    • Indigenous Risk Assessment
  • Community Topics
    • Portland Harbor Superfund Site
    • Butter Clams
    • Hurricane Harvey
    • Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill, PAHs, and Health
    • Black Butte Mine Partnership
    • Effectiveness of Remediation Techniques
    • How Humans Metabolize PAHs
    • St. Helens Air Quality Study
  • Our Research
    • PAH Fate and Exposure
    • PAH Health Outcomes
    • Predicting Toxicity of PAH Mixtures
    • Mechanisms of PAH Susceptibility
    • PAH Remediation and Transformations
    • Divider Item
    • Virtual Lab Tours
    • Publications
    • Citation for Publications
  • Support Cores
    • Administrative Core
    • Chemical Mixtures Core
    • Community Engagement Core
    • Data Management and Analysis Core
    • Research Translation Core
    • Training Core

Our Trainees

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Francesca Germano

What is the goal of your research?

Marginalized communities are disproportionately exposed to environmental contaminants of different types all over the world- the goal of my research is to work directly with different environmental justice communities in order to better their understanding of exposures, potential health outcomes and exposure mitigation with a focus on community-based approaches to public health toxicology. This will include report-back of results, research translation and community outreach to ensure exposure science and environmental health be accessible for all communities concerned.

What excites you about Superfund research?

Science communication and making science easier to understand for others.

As a scientist, what do you hope your research helps accomplish?

I hope to contribute to the accessibility of research and to bring awareness within the scientific community of health disparities as a result of poor science communication.

What was an interest or experience you had that contributed to your decision to become a scientist?

I never considered the field of toxicology or public health until learning about the disproportionate exposures to hazardous chemicals that marginalized communities experience because of their closer proximity to Superfund sites. Once I learned that environmental public health could be a combination of my passion for human rights and public health toxicology, I began to understand how much of a need there is for science communication in the United States today.

What are your career goals?

Research and working within communities.

What are your hobbies? What do you like to do when you aren’t doing science?

Research and working within communities. Weightlifting, pottery, reading, hiking and camping!

Research Project(s):

Community Engagement Core

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The Superfund Research Center is federally funded and
administered by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
(NIEHS grant #P42 ES016465), an institute of the National Institutes of Health.

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