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Moos Family Speaker Series: The Global Problem of Pharmaceutical Pollution
April 22, 2021 @ 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Featuring Dr. Alistair Boxall, Professor in Environmental Science in the Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, U.K.
Earth Day 2021
Thursday, April 22
12:00 pm CST
Free | Zoom Webinar, register below
Based in the United Kingdom, Dr. Boxall‘s world-renowned research focuses on the emerging and future ecological and health risks posed by chemical contaminants in the natural environment. He will address the issue of pharmaceuticals in the environment.
Dr. Boxall regularly advises national and international organizations on issues relating to chemical impacts on the environment and has been crunching the data from a recent global monitoring study. They measured 61 drugs in watersheds in 105 countries and he will have a lot of interesting, new material to share.
After his talk, Dr. Boxall will be joined by a panel of experts in Minnesota, Mark Ferrey of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Eva Carlson, Director of University Relations for RoundtableRx to hear the extent of the problem here at home and how it is being addressed.
Panelists
Eva Carlson is a co-founder and Director of University Relations at RoundtableRx, Minnesota’s medication repository. She helps coordinate volunteer efforts and operations at the state’s only medication repository program, which aims to reduce medication waste and improve access to life-saving medications. As a current Doctor of Pharmacy Student at the University of Minnesota, Eva is interested in reducing medication pollution and promoting proper disposal.
Mark Ferrey is an environmental scientist at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Before coming to the MPCA, he studied nitrogen fixation in soybean at the University of Minnesota before turning to the biodegradation of pesticides and other contaminants in soil. His work on Superfund site cleanup in the 1990s focused on the fate and degradation of the industrial solvent TCE in ground water. He helped author state and national guidance on the evaluation of natural attenuation of contaminants as a component of ground water remediation efforts. Mark is currently studying pharmaceuticals and endocrine active chemicals in Minnesota’s lakes and rivers, with recent investigations focused on disinfection byproducts in our surface water. He has presented his work to the National Research Council and authored over 60 articles and book chapters. Mark has BS and MS degrees in microbiology and environmental science, both from the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Valery Forbes is dean of the College of Biological Sciences at the University of Minnesota and Chair of the Freshwater Board of Directors. Previously, she served as director of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and spent more than two decades at Roskilde University in Denmark where she was founding head of the Department of Environmental, Social and Spatial Change. Valery’s research extends across quantitative ecology and environmental management with particular focus on population ecology and modeling, fate and effects of toxic chemicals in aquatic systems, and ecological risk assessment. She received a doctorate in coastal oceanography and a master’s degree in marine environmental science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She serves on the editorial boards of several international journals and provides advice to a wide range of government and industry bodies.
Register
Get added as an event sponsor
Corporate and individual sponsorships underwrite this speaker series making it free and open to the public. Sponsors receive generous recognition benefits and help improve water for Minnesotans. Contact Mary Salisbury at msalisbury@freshwater.org or 612-619-7136 to learn more.
Presented in partnership with the University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences