Inkyu Han works at a computer in his office

Han to study microplastics in Philadelphia's air

Cars and trucks have a health impact that greener electric vehicles will not eliminate. Tire wear produces plastic dust that gets into air and water. Plastic particles small enough to enter our lungs can contain toxic chemicals and heavy metals, potentially causing heart, lung, developmental, reproductive, and cancer outcomes. Inkyu Han, an environmental health scientist at the College of Public Health, is about to launch a federally funded study to measure microplastics in the air across Philadelphia neighborhoods. His Characterizing Airborne Microplastics in Philadelphia (CA...
Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Environment
Change the World
three mile island

Lessons of Three Mile Island accident remain important for public health researchers

The partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear reactor in March 1979 near Harrisburg, Pa., was the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history, exposing around two million people to radioactive fallout. A combination of equipment malfunctions and operator errors led to the accident. Workers in the control room as well as plant and government officials were caught off guard by the unprecedented event and forced to make quick decisions.  At the time of the accident there were no township evacuation plans, and Pennsylvania’s emergency plan had not been approved by the U...
Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Environment
Research

Feiler joins research group targeting childhood environmental health risks

Marina Oktapodas Feiler’s research focuses on environmental hazards that can harm children’s health, particularly pre- and postnatal exposure to lead and chemicals in everyday items and the environment that can disrupt a developing immune system.    “Exposures like these in early life can result in immune dysfunction, increasing children’s risk of asthma and infection,” she says. Many children in Philadelphia, the nation’s poorest large city, routinely face these and other environmental risks, including air pollution, lead, and asbestos in old buildings....
Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Faculty
Community
Environment
Samantha Holtz

Holtz fights for 'the most important resource on the planet'

For Samantha Holtz, it’s all about access to clean water. More than a billion people globally lack access to safe drinking water, and Holtz has been exploring solutions at both the community level and the policymaking side of this vital public health issue.  “I've always been into water, water scarcity, contamination,” Holtz says. “It’s the most important resource on the planet. Too many people don't have access to clean water, or the water they have access to harms them.” She is pursuing her master of public health in environmental health degree at the College of...
Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Environment
Students
dripping sink faucet

WET Trial enters next phase of study investigating rates of well water illness

Thousands of families in the counties surrounding Philadelphia get their household water from private wells. Environmental regulations protect public drinking water systems, but public safeguards don’t apply to these privately owned wells, where water quality testing is the responsibility of individual owners and the prevalence of waterborne diseases can threaten residents’ health. A new study by Temple University’s College of Public Health aims to explore illness-causing microbes in residential well water in six counties around Philadelphia. The $3.6 million study, calle...
Water
Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Research
Environment
person installing toilet

Can Coronavirus spread through defective bathroom sewage pipes?

As part of the college's coverage of the ongoing outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), we're reprinting a recent article written for the Water Quality & Health Council by Heather Murphy, assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Barbara Soule, an infection preventionist consultant, that discusses the potential spread of COVID-19 through improperly connected bathroom sewage pipes. On February 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the official name for the disease that is causing the 2019 coronavirus epidemic, COVID-1...
Coronavirus
Water
Environment
Epidemiology and Biostatistics
water faucet

WET Trial explores rates of illness from drinking untreated private well water

Nationwide, approximately 48 million people use private wells, including nearly 3 million in Pennsylvania. The water quality from these largely untreated wells is not federally regulated, and there have been few studies on both the extent and the source of microbial contamination in private wells.  In a new randomized controlled trial, Heather Murphy, assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics, will research the effects of drinking untreated well water on children ages three or under—effects that include gastrointestinal and respiratory symptoms from norovirus, Gi...
Water
Environment
Community
Epidemiology and Biostatistics