• Press Release

Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine Highlights Topics in Children’s Environmental Health

Philip J. Landrigan, MD, MSc edits special issue of the Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine on children’s health and the environment

  • (January 22, 2011)

The January/February 2011 issue of the Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine focuses on the theme of children’s health and the environment. Bringing together thought leaders in children's environmental health - including many of researchers and collaborators from Mount Sinai’s Children’s Environmental Health Center (CEHC) - this issue examines new research in environmental pediatrics.

According to Philip J. Landrigan, MD, MSc, the field of environmental pediatrics has grown exponentially in the past decade. Defined as “the branch of pediatric medicine that studies the influence of the environment on children's health,” this discipline has become an increasingly visible and important area of pediatric medicine.

The issue begins with the introduction “Children's Health and the Environment: An Overview,” written by Dr. Landrigan and Amir Miodovnik, MD, MPH. This article shows that the rates of chronic diseases in children are rising, and it illustrates how scientists are learning that environmental factors are important drivers of these changing disease patterns.

After introducing this important topic, the issue features a series of articles on children's environmental health, including the following written by members of the CEHC staff:

Childhood Obesity and Environmental Chemicals
Michele La Merrill, PhD, MPH, and Linda S. Birnbaum, PhD, DABT 

Environmental Neurotoxicants and the Developing Brain
Amir Miodovnik, MD, MPH 

Climate Change, Aeroallergens, Pediatric Allergic Disease
Perry E. Sheffield, MD, MPH, Kate R. Weinberger, MA, and Patrick L. Kinney, ScD 

Community Engagement in Children's Environmental Health Research
Barbara L. Brenner, DrPH, LMSW and Melissa P. Manice, MPH 

Economics of Children's Environmental Health
Leonardo Trasande, MD, MPP 

About the Children’s Environmental Health Center 

The Children’s Environmental Health Center at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City conducts research to protect children against environmental threats to health. Our investigations seek to discover the environmental causes of such diseases as asthma, learning disabilities, autism, obesity, and childhood cancer. We transmit our research to pediatricians, policy makers, parents, and all who care for children.


About the Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, over 400 outpatient practices, nearly 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time — discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.

Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high "Honor Roll" status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country’s best in several pediatric specialties.

For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on FacebookTwitter and YouTube.