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Associate Professor of Global and Community Health Michael Bloom’s work with international scholars is a testament to Mason’s position as global research university

, associate professor in the , recently hosted research colleagues from Romania who shared their research on environmental epidemiology with PhD students. Eugen Gurzău, MD, PhD, and Iulia Neamtiu, MD, PhD, are physician/researcher faculty at the in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. They presented on various topics including air quality, arsenic exposure, and risk management for exposures to environmental cancer-causing agents.

Bloom is a strong advocate for the value that international engagements add to public health.

“It is beneficial for PhD students to learn about the environmental epidemiology research taking place in other parts of the world, to meet investigators with a different perspective on environmental and epidemiologic research,” said Bloom.

Gurzău and Neamtiu primarily discussed their work with the Schools Indoor Pollution and Health Observation Network in Europe and the European Coordination Action on Human Biomonitoring . The partnerships between these researchers and Bloom bring forth information that have the potential to guide policy regulations aimed toward the improvement of air and water quality.

After meeting at a conference in Romania in 2008, Bloom has worked alongside Gurzău and Neamtiu on research involving the effect of groundwater arsenic contamination on pregnancy and birth outcomes. They have received funding from the U.S. and the Program. Bloom, Gurzău, and Neamtiu’s most recent research on birth outcomes in relation to arsenic and genetic susceptibility is being supported by an extramural research grant from the Romanian government.