Fellow Bio:
I am originally from Madison and went to high school at Memorial with several of my current classmates from the class of '98. As a matter of fact, a few of us go all the way back to middle school. I attended UW-Madison for my undergraduate studies, majoring in Molecular Biology and Zoology and performing research on some of the biochemical aspects of Alzheimer's disease and Breast Cancer. Starting early in my high school years, I coached a youth softball team for seven seasons. Coaching was one of my most valuable experiences, and I learned a lot from helping the girls I coached to learn and grow over those summers. I also tutored in math, science, and English through the GUTS and TRIO programs during some of my time on campus. I interned in U.S. Senator Feingold's home office for a summer, dealing with constituent letters, and various issues of public policy. I may have too many interests outside of medicine for my own good, but among the most important to me are my family, politics, reading, music, and baseball.

Project Description:
My project is to encourage parents to adopt alternative and least toxic methods of pest control to protect children from environmental exposure to toxins.

Situation:
Children are being exposed to potentially toxic substances in their homes and parents are not aware of what measures to take to minimize the risk to their children.

Inputs - What We Invest:
I will invest time for research and patient contact and the organizations that back me will provide funding for my time. The project will also use the time of professionals in the Department of Public Health with whom I will consult and the funds of the department toward any materials we produce. Information inputs include scientific journal articles, toxicology experts, Internet sites, and the opinions of patients.

Outputs - What We Do:
In the first stage of the project I will research recent developments in residential integrated pest control by interviewing experts and mostly by Internet investigation. I plan to collect articles and relevant web sites that I can then discuss with experts in my department. After the information collecting stage, I plan to talk to some patients to obtain a qualitative measure of the awareness level in the general public and to see what form of education might be the most successful.

In the synthesis stage, I will condense my research into patient-friendly material, taking into account what I have learned from talking with patients. The material could include a new Internet site about RIPM specifically for patients; a list of approved Internet sites for learning more about RIPM; printed materials that could be distributed to patients; and printed materials that could be directed at physicians.

In the application stage, I will meet with mothers at Wisconsin Infant and Children(WIC) clinics after their appointments to discuss RIPM and to distribute the information that I have collected. I will survey patients before the discussion and two weeks after the discussion to evaluate the impact of the meeting.

In the assessment stage I will analyze the results from surveys and adjust information delivery strategies accordingly. I will also report my findings to Locus and to the State Medical Society.

Who We Reach:
At first we will only reach to parents with whom I meet and my coworkers, but I aspire to reach many more parents through the distribution of information and the greater medical community through publication in the Wisconsin Medical Journal.

Assumptions:
The largest assumption I have made is that I will be able to find enough information to assemble meaningful materials. In preliminary searches I have found a wealth of information on RIPM. Many of the potential toxins have not yet been studied enough to deem them dangerous with certainty, but the data is growing. In addition to data confirming toxicity, there is a large amount of information on alternative methods to dealing with pests that eliminate many of the chemicals in question.

I have assumed that the toxicology staff at the Wisconsin Department of Public Health will be able to assist me. This is a reasonable assumption since I have already met several of them to discuss the project and they have offered their help.

Short Term Results: The most immediate results will be the condensed materials that I create. Other short-term results include the education of participating parents and the conclusions of the survey study.

Medium Term Results: Hopefully the project will be published for physicians to see. Also, distribution of information at clinics will increase public awareness of RIPM and safety issues that accompany it. I am also optimistic about the idea of establishing communication between physicians and local pest control providers. One possible link would be to provide referrals or possibly even a discount to a service that takes the safest approaches to pest controlóthis could be a promising arrangement for businesses, patients, and physicians by providing customers to businesses that are the most health-friendly and by protecting patient health.

Long Term Results: The goal of this project in to provide a chemically safe environment in which people can live and children can grow. If the project is successful in informing the public and if the work is continued, the ultimate result will be implementation of public policy limiting the use of treatments that are harmful to humans and especially to developing children.

Accomplishments
I have constructed a pamphlet entitled "Pesticides and Your Children" with an overview of RIPM techniques that is written at a 4th grade level. I tested it by distributing it with a short talk at WIC clinics. The pamphlet/talk was successful in raising short-term education about pesticide saftey and minimization. The results of the study will be published in the Wisconsin Medical Journal this fall--the manuscript was just accepted this week.

The objective of my project is to collect, condense, and distribute information about residential integrated pest management (RIPM) to parents with small children. The information we provide will assist parents in minimizing the exposure of their children to environmental toxins. The project will also allow me to become familiar with the state public health setting and with how to affect public policy through government action.

Challenges and Solutions:
There were numerous challenges in conducting the study. Constructing a pamphlet that will read at a low level while still containing information was not easy. Nor was dealing with exactly what topics to include and determining the depth that should be addressed for each. Careful editing and numerous drafts were needed. I made use of the numerous human resources at the DPH to add their expertise in pamphlet-making and about pesticides. I couldn't have made anything nearly as complete and readable by myself.

The IRB was also more difficult than I had anticipated. It took me three tries to get it through successfully. The key is really to just give yourself enough time. I thought it would be quick and it wasn't. If you follow the directions and work with the staff, they are very helpful and it should all work out. This requires having your research design completely planned out when you start the summer, which was not an option for me since I didn't know how long the pamphlet making and basic literature searches would take me and I knew that I needed to wait until summer to really immerse myself to do a good job.

Meeting moms on whom to test the pamphlet was also a challenge. Not everyone wanted to participate and tehre were lts of screaming kids running around making it difficult to concentrate on the task at hand. Offering an incentive for being in the study was definitely helpful, but mostly it just required a lot of patience.

Finding funding for the poster may prove difficult. I will talk to LOCUS and medical school administrators for assistance.

Resource Needs:
Funds for printing at a minimum. I'd love help developing it too.

Proposed Budget:
The Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services will provide all of the supplies I need including an office, computer, and funds for printing materials. Therefore, the only expense is time. Typically medical students earn $3500 for a ten week summer projectóIf I were to receive the State Medical Society stipend, I would only need $1000 from Locus to meet that standard, but if not, I would like to ask for the maximum of $1600.

Last update:

September 8, 2003

A indicates the item has been completed.

Completed	When	What	On-line
	Year 1: Beginning of Semester 2	New Project Report	Submit Report
	Year 2: Beginning of Semester 1	Project Update	Submit Update
	Year 2: Beginning of Semester 2	Project Update	Submit Update
	Year 3: Beginning of third year	Project Update	Submit Update
	Year 4: August of fourth year	2-3 page final summary of project that includes a reflective evaluation of the project process	N/A
	Ongoing	Participate in program evaluation (written and/or focus group)	View Options
	By the end of fourth year	Select poster, presentation, paper, creative option or your own idea	View Options

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