SAHSU Jubilee Scientific Meeting

Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus
18 December 2007

Meeting Report    |   Presentations    |   Poster Abstracts   |   Schedule

The Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU) www.sahsu.org.uk celebrated its 20-year anniversary on 18^th December with a one-day Jubilee Scientific Conference at South Kensington. Founded in 1987 and originally located at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, SAHSU moved to Imperial College London in 1996.

The conference was introduced by Prof Pat Troop, Chief Executive of the Health Protection Agency, which also sponsored the meeting. Scientific lectures and policy oriented talks were given by key Imperial College staff and other distinguished scientists who had collaborated with SAHSU over the years. Sessions were chaired by Dr Hilary Walker, Department of Health and Dr Marco Martuzzi, WHO. The opening presentation by the Director of SAHSU, Prof Paul Elliott, gave an overview of SAHSU's achievements during its first 20 years. A lecture on air pollution research was given by Prof Ross Anderson, St George's London, and Prof Dan Wartenberg, University of Medicine and Dentistry, New Jersey, USA discussed ecological versus individual level epidemiological studies. Prof David Briggs¹ presented developments in Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Profs Sylvia Richardson¹ and Nicky Best¹ explained state-of-the art statistical methods used in spatial epidemiology and SAHSU Assistant Director, Dr Lars Jarup, presented results on health effects of metals emitted from chemical plants. Mr Sam LeFevre, Utah Department of Health, USA, described the use of SAHSU methods in the Environmental Public Health Tracking Program run by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which is collaborating with and funding SAHSU to further develop methods for environmental health risk assessment. Dr Lesley Rushton¹ gave an overview of health risks associated with landfill sites and Prof George Morris, Scottish Executive, presented the Scottish environmental health experience.

The conference, which attracted 120 delegates including European and US collaborators, finished with a much appreciated buffet reception at 170 Queen's Gate.

¹ = SAHSU collaborator Department of Epidemiology & Public Health Imperial College London

Some of the speakers and presenters                                                                       Photo: Ed Hurst

 

• Prof Ross Anderson - Air pollution and mortality: Historical perspectives. link (2 MB)
• Prof Nicky Best - Bayesian graphical models for multiple bias modelling in epidemiological studies. link (3.2 MB)
• Prof David Briggs - GIS in environmental epidemiology. link (64.6 MB)
• Prof Paul Elliott - SAHSU: The First 20 Years. link (16.4 MB)
• Dr Lars Jarup - Metals: the Runcorn and Avonmouth studies. link (3.3 MB)
• Mr Sam LeFevre - Spatial Epidemiology Methods Used in the Evaluation of Cancer Clusters in Utah. link (44.6 MB)
• Prof George Morris - Environmental Health in A New Era: A Scottish Response. link (185 KB)
• Prof Sylvia Richardson - Analysis of space time patterns of disease risk. link (4.1 MB)
• Dr Lesley Rushton - Assessment of Risks to Human Health from Waste Landfill Sites: Epidemiological Evidence. link (8.4 MB)
• Prof Dan Wartenberg - Ecologic vs. Individual Studies. link (4.2 MB)

 

• COCKINGS, MARTIN, LEUNG. Geo-Refer: Geographical referencing Resources for Social Scientists. link
• EKSLER, LASSARRE. Evolution of Road Risk Disparities in Belgium. link
• GHOSH, GLINIANAIA, RANKIN, PEARCE, CHARLTON, PARKER, PLESS-MULLOLI. Interaction between Black Smoke Effects and Gender on Birthweight. link
• HODGSON, NIEUWENHUIJSEN, JARUP. Renal Effects in a Population with Ambient Exposure to Mercury and Solvents. link
• HODGSON, SHIRLEY, RANKIN. Residential Mobility during Pregnancy in the North of England. link
• JARUP, BRIGGS. Socio-economic Entanglements in Studies of Environmental Epidemiology: the SAHSU experience. link
• KROLL, KENDAL, VINCENT, BITHELL, MILES, GREEN. Environmental Radon and Gamma Rays and Childhood Cancer. link
• MAHESWARAN, PEARSON, HAINING, BEEVERS, SMEETON, WOLFE. Air Pollution and Stroke Incidence - a Small-Area Level Ecological Study. link
• MORRIS, GULLIVER, BRIGGS, HANSELL. Modelling UK Black Smoke and Sulphur Dioxide Concentrations, 1955-2001 to estimate Lifecourse Air Pollution Exposures. link
• PLESS-MULLOLI, GLINIANAIA, RUSHTON, LURZ, SANDERSON, FANSHAWE, PEARCE, CHARLTON, SHIRLEY, RANKIN, PARKER, DIGGLE. Dynamic Modelling of Space-time Variation of Black Smoke in an Industrial Urban Setting over Thirty Years. link
• SAEI, CHARLETT, POTZ, MURRAY, JONES, JACKSON, DAVIES, BLACKBURN, PEARSON. Small Area Estimation of Clostridium Difficile Ribotypes within Acute NHS Trusts Using a Multinomial Random Component Model. link
• STAFFORD, CUMMINS, ELLAWAY, SACKER, WIGGINS, MACINTYRE. Neighbourhood Effects on Health: a Structural Equation Modelling Approach. link
• THOMAS, HODGSON, NIEUWENHUIJSEN, JARUP. Early Renal Damage in Populations environmentally exposed to Cadmium – the Avonmouth Study. link
• VAN WIECHEN, AMELING, BREUGELMANS, DEKKERS, HOUTHUIJS, MARRA, MULDER. Small Area Health Analysis, a Geographic Toolkit (SMARHAGT). link

 

9:00	Registration and coffee
10:00	Welcome	Prof Pat Troop CEO, HPA
	Spatial epidemiology - state of the art and scientific achievements Chair: Dr Hilary Walker, Department of Health
10:15	SAHSU: the first 20 years	Prof Paul Elliott Director, SAHSU, Imperial College London
10:45	Air pollution and mortality: historical perspective on the emergence of a research field	Prof Ross Anderson St George’s, London
11:15	Coffee
11:45	Ecological vs individual level studies	Prof Dan Wartenberg UMDNJ, USA
12:15	GIS methods in environmental epidemiology	Prof David Briggs Imperial College London
12:45	Poster viewing
13:00	Buffet Lunch
14:15	Analysis of space time patterns of disease risk Bayesian graphical models for multiple bias modelling in epidemiological studies	Prof Sylvia Richardson Imperial College London Prof Nicky Best Imperial College London
15:00	Metals – the Runcorn and Avonmouth studies	Dr Lars Jarup Assistant Director, SAHSU, Imperial College London
15:30	Tea
	The role of small area studies in policy making Chair: Dr Marco Martuzzi, WHO
16:00	SAHSU and EPHT (Environmental Public Health Tracking)	Mr Sam LeFevre Utah Department of Health
16:30	Landfill sites	Dr Lesley Rushton Imperial College London
17:00	The Scottish experience	Prof George Morris Scottish Executive
17:30	Closing remarks	Prof Paul Elliott, SAHSU
	Drinks reception and buffet dinner

(Printable version of the schedule)