About Us
This website concerns our work within the Duke University Superfund Research Center during its previous grant cycle from 2017-2022. Please feel free to access the resources that are here and reach out with any questions or comments: SuperfundCEC@duke.edu
The Community Engagement Core works with North Carolina communities affected by environmental contaminants, with a focus on early life exposures to chemicals that may have impacts later in life.
Questions? Contact Us!
Feel free to reach out to us with questions at SuperfundCEC@duke.edu
The CEC provides the following types of assistance to impacted communities:
— Interpreting data and communicating science
— Making expert connections
— Conducting research and synthesizing information
— Responding to environmental health questions
Communities can contact us with short-term requests for information related to environmental contamination or with proposals for longer term engagement through participatory research projects and/or education and outreach activities.
Who We Are
Elizabeth Shapiro-Garza, PhD, directs the Community Engagement Core (CEC). She has over twenty years of both applied and research experience related to community engagement. Her expertise is in Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), the translation of science for low-literacy users, and in pedagogical approaches to teaching community engagement practice and theory.
Chiara Klein (Community Engagement Core) joined the Center in July 2021 and is the Program Coordinator for Community Engagement. She has a Master’s of Environmental Management degree from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University.
Sam Cohen (Research Translation Core and Community Engagement Core) joined the Superfund Research Center in July 2018 and is now a Senior Environmental Health Program Coordinator. Sam holds a Master’s of Environmental Management degree from the Yale School of the Environment.
Our Community Advisory Board
- Calvin Allen, Director, Rural Forward NC, A program of the Foundation for Health Leadership and Innovation
- Laurel Berman, Environmental Health Scientist,Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, National Land Reuse Health Program (www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/brownfields)
- Lucy Bradley, PhD, Professor and Extension Specialist, Consumer Horticulture; Associate Department Head & Department Extension Leader, Horticultural Science; and Director, Extension Master Gardener Program
- Veronica Carter, Councilmember, Town of Leland, NC
- Beth Dittman, Toxicologist and Public Health Assessor, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology (OEE) Branch, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health
- Kathleen Gray, PhD, MsPH, Director, Center for Public Engagement with Science; Research Associate Professor, UNC Institute for the Environment
- Tammy Kennedy, Master Gardener, Garner Grows Garden
- Deborah Dicks Maxwell, District 16 Director, NC NAACP; President, Unit 5424, New Hanover County NAACP
- Katlyn May, Co-Director, Community Engagement CoreCenter for Human Health and the Environment, NC State University
- Monica O. McCann, Associate Director, Resourceful Communities, The Conservation Fund
- Naeema Muhammad, Organizing Director, North Carolina Environmental Justice Network
- Michelle B. Nowlin, JD, Clinical Professor of Law, Duke University
- Fawn Pattison, Communications Director & Senior Campaign Advisor, NC Child
- Jamie Pritchett, Program Coordinator/Health Assessor/Toxicologist, Health Assessment, Consultation & Education Program, NC Division of Public Health
- Dana Sargent, Executive Director, Cape Fear River Watch
- Stephanie Smith, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, College of Health & Human Services, University of North Carolina Wilmington
- Barnes Sutton, Planner, Town of Navassa
- Phillip Tarte, Director, New Hanover County Health Department
- Courtney G. Woods, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health