This year commemorates the 20th Anniversary of 9/11. To mark this date, we are hosting a conversation about the events of September 11th and the health of the public. Our panelists will reflect on what we learned about health post-9/11, and what implications this event had for population health science today.
Professor in Psychiatry and Director of the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program, Emory University School of Medicine
Barbara Olasov Rothbaum, PhD is Director of the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program. She is a professor and Associate Vice Chair of Clinical Research at Emory School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Director of the Trauma and Anxiety Recovery Program and holds the Paul A. Janssen Chair in Neuropsychopharmcology. Dr. Rothbaum specializes in research on the treatment of anxiety disorders, particularly PTSD. She was a member of the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Study on Assessment of Ongoing Efforts in the Treatment of PTSD, and briefed the DOD, VA, House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs and Armed Services Committees on the IOM report results. Dr. Rothbaum has been studying PTSD treatments since 1986 and has developed, tested, and disseminated some of the most innovative and effective treatments available for PTSD. She is an inventor of virtual reality exposure therapy. She was a pioneer in applying it in the treatment of PTSD in combat veterans. She has authored over 400 scientific papers and chapters, has published 11 books on the treatment of PTSD and edited 4 others on anxiety, and received the Diplomate in Behavioral Psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology. She is a past president of the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS), is currently on the Scientific Advisory Boards for the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA), National Center for PTSD (NC-PTSD), and the executive committee of the Warrior Care Network. She is a fellow of the ACNP (American College of Neuropsychopharmacology), the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT), and American Psychological Association’s Division 56 (Division of Trauma Psychology) and was awarded the 2010 “Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Practice of Trauma Psychology” for APA Division 56 and the Robert S. Laufer Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS).
Associate Service Fellow, World Trade Center Health Program, Research Planning & Care Integration Unit
Albeliz Santiago-Colón, Ph.D., is an Associate Service Fellow in the Research Planning & Care Integration Unit at the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program, which is administered by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Program provides no-cost medical monitoring and treatment for certified WTC-related health conditions to those directly affected by the 9/11 attacks in New York, the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Dr. Santiago-Colón assists with integrating research findings of the health impacts arising from the 9/11 attacks into the care and well-being of members. She recently coauthored a review article “World Trade Center Health Program: First Decade of Research” where she compiled and analyzed over two decades worth of research to support translational research. Within the Health Program, she specializes in uncovering knowledge gaps to inform future research needs. Before joining the WTC Health Program in 2019, she was an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) fellow at the Division of Field Studies and Engineering under NIOSH. While working as an ORISE fellow, she completed her dissertation on the association between maternal occupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and selected birth defects of the face and central nervous system using data from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Originally from Puerto Rico, she received a B.S. in Biology from the University of Puerto Rico and a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of Cincinnati. Her training in epidemiology has focused on environmental health, maternal and child health, and occupational exposure assessment.
Professor and Vice Chair of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Rachel Yehuda, Ph.D. is a Professor and Vice Chair of Psychiatry, and Professor of Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She is also the Mental Health Director at the Bronx Veterans Affairs. Dr. Yehuda is a recognized leader in the field of traumatic stress studies and has authored hundreds of papers and 10 books in the field of traumatic stress and the neuroscience of PTSD. She is the recipient of numerous awards and federal grants. Her current interests include PTSD prevention and innovative approaches to treatment, the study of risk and resilience, epigenetics and the intergenerational transmission of trauma and PTSD. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and has recently established a Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research at Mount Sinai.
MODERATOR, Associate Dean for Research and Professor, Yale School of Nursing, and Professor of Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health
David Vlahov is associate dean for research and professor at the Yale School of Nursing and a professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. His primary area of focus has been on urban health. His studies in Baltimore, Harlem, and the Bronx, which have served as a platform for subsequent individual, community, and policy intervention studies. This work has contributed new knowledge to promote health equity. Vlahov was the founding president of the International Society for Urban Health. He has been a visiting professor at the medical school in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and served as an expert consultant to the World Health Organization’s Urban Health Center in Kobe, Japan. Vlahov is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Urban Health, has edited three books on urban health, and has published over 654 scholarly papers. He was the principal investigator of the Rockefeller Foundation project on the Roundtable for Urban Living Environment Research on urban health metrics and a member of the WHO Knowledge Network for Urban Settlements as part of the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. Vlahov served on the New York City Board of Health, and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine currently serving on the institute’s Board of Global Health.
