Public Health On Call 985 - How to Investigate a Cancer Cluster
In 1979, the town of Woburn, MA, raised the alarm as unusual numbers of children fell ill with leukemia. An investigation determined that this cancer cluster was likely caused by contaminated drinking water from two of the town's wells. In this episode: Suzanne Condon, who served as the associate commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Health at the time, and Megan Latshaw, an expert in disease clusters, explain what the Woburn investigation highlights about unusual patterns of cancer and how they are studied.
Guests:Suzanne Condon, MSM, is an environmental health expert who served as the associate commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Health from 1980 to 2015.
Megan Latshaw, PhD, MHS, is a professor in Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is also the co-instructor of an online course on disease clusters.
Host:Dr. Josh Sharfstein is distinguished professor of the practice in Health Policy and Management, a pediatrician, and former secretary of Maryland's Health Department.
Show links and related content:-
How The Post found growing rates of cancer in America's Corn Belt—Washington Post
-
Disease Clusters—Coursera
-
LEUKEMIA STRIKES A SMALL TOWN—New York Times
-
Childhood Leukemia in Woburn, Massachusetts—Public Health Reports
Looking for episode transcripts? Open our podcast on the Apple Podcasts app (desktop or mobile) or the Spotify mobile app to access an auto-generated transcript of any episode. Closed captioning is also available for every episode on our YouTube channel.
Contact us:Have a question about something you heard? Looking for a transcript? Want to suggest a topic or guest? Contact us via email or visit our website.
Follow us:-
Here's our RSS feed
Note: These podcasts are a conversation between the participants, and do not represent the position of Johns Hopkins University.