Episode 08

Bringing Humility To Mission Trips

Overview:

This is episode number eight, and today I’m interviewing capracare’s Board member and Jean Pierre-Louis’s former undergraduate professor, Dr. Jean Grassman. She is an industrial hygienist and environmental health scientist with over 25 years of experience. Her specialty includes studying the sources, detection, and impact of chemical exposure in vulnerable populations with an emphasis on biological monitoring approaches. Today she teaches biology-based public health courses to undergraduates at Brooklyn College. At the Graduate School of Public Health, she teaches courses in occupational health, emerging environmental issues, and environmental auditing and remediation. Dr. Grassman has been instrumental in numerous projects that have been deployed by her in Haiti. Nothing short of courageous, she is a remarkable person and a pleasure to interview. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

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More of the overview on Dr. Grassman:

Jean Grassman is an industrial hygienist and environmental health scientist with over 25 years of experience. She specializes in studying the sources, detection, and impact of chemical exposure in vulnerable populations, emphasizing biological monitoring approaches. She joined the CUNY faculty as an Assistant Professor in 1999 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2004. Prior to coming to CUNY as an AAAS Policy Fellow, she evaluated the impact of interindividual variability in susceptibility to toxicants. Her laboratory-based research includes developing an assay to detect hemoglobin adducts in blood; and studies of the impact of dioxins, fire retardants, and dietary constituents upon signaling pathways in primary and immortalized human cells. As an NIEHS Postdoctoral Fellow, she provided biological monitoring analyses for studies of dioxin exposure in Seveso, Italy; Boehringer Ingelheim, Germany; and among North Carolina residents. Her fieldwork situates workplace concerns within the broader spectrum of environmental and psychosocial stressors with projects focusing on mercury exposure in communities engaged in artisanal gold mining, environmental and occupational factors associated with mosquito-borne illness, and gender-related hazards among young migrant women employed as beer promoters. These projects build on academic and community collaborations in Russia, Canada, Bolivia, Haiti, and Southeast Asia. She has written on chemical warfare and is developing a database to better define the continuing impact of Agent Orange in Viet Nam. On the policy level, as a member of the ACGIH Biological Exposure Indices (BEI) Committee, she develops guidelines for using biological monitoring to protect workers. She practices industrial hygiene on behalf of the members of her union and advocates for workplace justice as a member of the NYCOSH Board of Directors. She continues to teach biology-based public health courses to undergraduates at Brooklyn College. At the Graduate School of Public Health, she teaches courses in occupational health, emerging environmental issues, and environmental auditing and remediation.

Episode Highlights:

• Introduction by host(ess) Marielis Figueroa (0:01)

• Dr. Jean Grassman tells our community what she would like us to know about her. (3:06)

• When and how Dr.Jean Grassman first meet Jean Pierre-Louis (JPL). (7:18)

• She recounts what he was like as a student. (13:10)

• Dr. Jean Grassman walks us through how he recruited her to join capracare’s board leadership. (14:40)

• Dr. Jean Grassman has served 12 years, til the present, on the board of capracare (the 2nd longest-serving board member next to the board’s Chairman). She shares the changes and impacts she has been able to witness during her tenure with capracare. (18:50)

• capracare is currently recruiting board members with experience and interest in fundraising; Dr.Jean Grassman shares what she would advise someone interested in applying to join the board. (21:17)

• A few years back, Dr. Jean Grassman went to Haiti with capracare to implement a mosquito-borne prevention program after receiving a grant from the City University of New York. She shares what that project was like. As well as what impact the project had. (24:38)

• How was your experience like doing your project during the trip? What did you all do? (25:26)

• PSA/Public Service Announcement: Join our mission to make a difference by logging onto www.capracare.org/changemakers (31:56)

• As a public health professor focusing on environmental health, Dr. Jean Grassman tells us what were the most significant environmental health issues she saw in Haiti during her trip with capracare. And how did Haiti overcome those issues? (33:49)

• Based on Dr. Jean Grassmsn’s experience, she gives recommendations to those going to Haiti to work with the community on what to bring over. (36:15)

• Dr. Jean Grassman recalls her experience with the capracare Haiti staff. (40:22)

• capracare currently has three primary goals for the year 2023. Why are these particular goals most important, and how can you support those goals? (46:54)

• Dr. Jean Grassman shares her thoughts/insights of where she is in visions of capracare in the future 2-3 years from now. (50:02)

• At capracare, we believe in the power of the word and its profound effect on our identity; for us, our word is courage. Dr.Grassmsn’s one word that she would use to describe capracare’s identity and why is explained. (55:47)

• Closing (58:05)

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