UNM METALS SRP - - May 2022 News!

University of New Mexico

METALS

Superfund Center

Metal Exposure and Toxicity Assessment on Tribal Lands in the Southwest

Welcome to our May 2022 Newsletter!

SPOTLIGHT

Dr. Johnnye Lewis Retires from UNM

Message from Don A Godwin, PhD

Dean, Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences

COP - Pharmaceutical Sciences

April 1, 2022

It is with a combination of happiness (for her) and sadness (for the COP and for the world of community engaged research), that I announce that Dr. Johnnye Lewis is retiring from the College of Pharmacy today, April 1, 2022 (this is not an April Fools’ Day prank).

I have immensely enjoyed working with Dr. Lewis during my time as Dean and am in awe on the impact she has had health of tribal communities here in New Mexico and around the U.S. It is fitting that as Dr. Lewis reaches this transition in her career, she has been chosen to receive the UNM 7^th Annual Community-Engaged Research Lecturer Award which is the highest honor UNM bestows on a community-engaged researcher. Fortunately, Dr. Lewis will be staying on with the College as a Working Retiree in a 0.25 FTE capacity to continue her incredible work. Please send your congratulations and best wishes to Johnnye at jlewis@cybermesa.com.

For additional information on Dr. Lewis’ incredible career, please read below.

Dr. Johnnye Lewis is a Research Professor and Director of the Community Environmental Health Program (CEHP) at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center College of Pharmacy. Her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Manitoba was followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in inhalation toxicology at the Department of Energy Inhalation Toxicology Research Institute in Albuquerque, NM, and private sector work as owner and CEO of Environmental Health Associates, an environmental health consulting firm providing risk modeling and assessment methodology development for Indigenous tribes, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and NRC. She moved to academia in 1996 and developed CEHP to merge her scientific research in toxicology with community concerns, creating partnerships among multidisciplinary researchers, communities, policy and decision-makers, and clinicians to develop creative and integrative transdisciplinary solutions to environmental contamination problems.

Dr. Lewis developed, has led, and continues to co-lead multiple center-level programs including the Navajo Birth Cohort Study, Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (NIH-OD), the METALS Superfund Research Center (NIH-NIEHS), the Center for Native Environmental Health Equity Research (NIEHS/USEPA Phase 1, NIMHD Phase 2). CEHP’s primary focus is on risk to Indigenous communities from chronic exposures to abandoned uranium mine waste from Cold War weapons development throughout the Western US. The Centers focus on environmental mobility and multigenerational toxicity, engaging teams of trained indigenous community researchers, indigenous language and culture specialists, artists, toxicologists, engineers, mineralogists, geochemists, geographers, statisticians and mathematicians, immunologists, ethnographers, and clinicians. The Centers work with communities to Integrate indigenous knowledge, language, and art into design and implementation of clinical trials and novel risk reduction strategies to form a framework from which to build culturally acceptable solutions.

Among the many recognitions of Dr. Lewis’ work are

2011, Population Health Researcher of the Year, UNM-HSC.

2012, Commemoration for Research Service to Community of Red Water Pond Road, Church Rock Chapter, Navajo Nation.

2018, Environmental Excellence Award, Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency

2021, Annual Public Communication of Science Award Recipient, Society of Toxicology

Most sincerely,

Don Godwin

Dr. Lewis received the 2022 annual Community-Engaged Scholarship Lecture Award recognizing her exceptional scholarly work that embodies UNM's commitment to community engagement and profoundly and systematically affects the relationship between the university and the larger community in a positive and meaningful way.

This is the highest award for community-engaged scholarship bestowed by The University of New Mexico.

TRAINEE HIGHLIGHT:

METALS trainees, Isabel Meza, Thomas DePree, and Eliane El Hayek have organized a 2-day research presentation between the UNM METALS center and the SRP Center at the University of Arizona. Trainees from the two SRP Centers shared their research in flash talk presentations. The meetings were held via zoom on April 21st and April 28th.

Superfund Research Program e-Posted Notes - April 8, 2022

(Issue 219)

This photo of UNM SRP Center trainees Casey Miller and Andrew Neidhart was featured in the April 8 SRP e-Posted Notes. In the photo, Miller and Neidhart are preparing seedlings for controlled exposure experiments in soil mixed with uranium and microplastics. They are using pink lights to represent the necessary spectrum colors that promote healthy plant growth. The students work with project leader Jose Cerrato to understand how microplastics in the environment can interact with metals and affect plant growth and health.

College of Pharmacy

RESEARCH DAY 2022 POSTERS

UNM METALS Superfund Research Center: An Overview, Carolyn Roman, METALS Team, Johnnye Lewis

Water Quality, Research and Policy: Addressing household water insecurity on the Navajo Nation, Daniel Beene, Joseph Hoover, Chris Shuey

Occurrence, mobility, and immobilization of metal mixtures: lessons learned from our partner communities in Blue Gap/Tachee and Laguna Pueblo, Cerrato, Meza, El Hayek, Ali, Blake, Avasarala, Velasco, DeVore, Busch, Rodriguez-Freire, Shuey, Nez, Bill, Brearley, Peterson, Spilde, Lezama, Lauer

Metal occurrence in agricultural lands near legacy uranium mine sites at southwestern US using a community engaged study, Derek Capitan, Herzer, Miller, Swimmer, Shuey, Mehdi S. Ali, Spilde, Brearley, El Hayek, Cerrato.

Disruption of life cycles in Blue-Gap Tachee Community, Navajo Nation, Johnny Naize, Aaron Yazzie, Wallace Kee, Latasha James

A family’s uranium exposures in waterfall canyon, Navajo Nation, Northeastern Arizona, Johnny Naize, Josephine Redhouse, Evelyn Etsitty, Frances John, Latasha James

Climate change vulnerability assessment of Navajo Nation water resources in the San Juan River Basin, NM: Utilizing traditional Navajo ecological knowledge, Kirena Elana Yanibaa Tsosie, Dr. Lani M Tsinnajinnie, Dr Laura Harjo, Dr Crystal Tulley-Cordova

Dine language translation and glossary of Thinking Zinc study terminologies, Sarah Henio-Adeky, David Begay, Natanya Kaye, Larry King, Edith Hood, Sandy Ramone, Chris Shuey

Living with uranium wastes for 50 years and four generations – A Navajo community’s perspective, Edith Hood, Peterson Bell, Bertha Nez, Teracita Keyanna, Jacquelyn Bell-Jefferson, Grace Henio, Anna Benally, Chris Shuey

Traditional ecological knowledge and indigenous community planning – integrating native concerns in abandoned uranium mine research and clean-up policies, Latasha James, Chris Shuey, Johnny Naize, Josephine Redhouse, Peterson Bell, Joseph Hoover, Melissa Gonzales, Johnnye Lewis

Heavy metal-laden particulate exposure induces enteroendocrine expansion in adult human colonoids. Roger Atanga, Jamie L. Padilla, Adrian Brearley, Eliseo F. Castillo, Matthew J. Campen, Julie G. In.

Quantifying Heavy Metals in Interstitial Fluid for Remote Monitoring of Chronic Exposures. Alicia Bolt, Robert M. Taylor, Abdul-Medhi S. Ali, Yiliang Zhu, Justin T. Baca.

Tungsten-enhanced breast cancer metastasis to the bone is associated with alterations in the bone niche. Alicia Bolt, Cameron Chock, Charlotte M. McVeigh, and Sage Templeton

Acute inhalation of tungsten particles results in early signs of diastolic cardiac dysfunction. Sage Templeton, Charlotte M. McVeigh, Russel Hunter, Guy W. Herbert, Edward B. Barr, Barry Bleske, Matthew J. Campen and Alicia Bolt.

Thinking Zinc: A nutritional intervention for metal toxicity. Erica Dashner-Titus, Debra MacKenzie, Esther Erdei, Chris Shuey, Laurie Hudson

Polyester Fiber Particles: An Overlooked Stimulus to Chronic Respiratory Inflammation?

Eliane El Hayek, Tamara Howard, Angelica Benavidez, Michael Spilde, Angelica Maestas-Olguin, Adrian Brearley, Stella Shoultz, Adina Abudushalamu, Guy Herbert, Jorge Gonzalez-Estrella, Jose Cerrato, and Matthew Campen

Integrating Big Data with Individual-Level Data to Improve Modeling and Prediction of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever Dynamics in Native American Communities. Christopher Girlamo, Yan Lin, Johnnye Lewis, Xi Gong, Maria Lane, Steven

Impacts of Gestational Ozone Exposure on Placental Development and Cardiac Function in Mice. Russell Hunter, Jessica Begay, Davis Scieska, Marcus Garcia, Raul Salazar, Barry Bleske, Selita Lucas, Judy Cannon, Matthew Campen.

Exposure to Arsenic and Level of Vitamin D Influence the Number of Th17 Cells and Production of IL-17A in Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in Adults. Fredine T. Lauer, Faruque Parvez, Pam Factor-Litvak, Tarquil Islam, Mahbubul Eunus, M. Abu Horayara, Mazanour Rahman, Golam Sarwar, Habibul Ahsan, Joseph Graziano, and Scott W. Burchiel.

Interfacial Interactions of Soluble Uranium with Microplastics, Soil, and Mentha arvensis.

Casey Miller, Andrew Neidhart, Kendra Hess, Abdul-Medhi S. Ali, Angelica Benavidez, Michael Spilde, Jorge Gonzalez-Estrella, Eliane El Hayek, Jose M. Cerrato.

Arsenic impairs the lineage commitment of hematopoietic progenitor cells through the inhibition of GATA-2. Laura V. Santo-Medina, Sebastian Medina, Haikun Zhang, Guanghua Wan, Alicia M. Bolt, Xixi Zhou, Scott W. Burchiel, and Ke Jian Lu.

Novel CPD-sequencing reveals arsenic selectively targets formation and repair of mutagenic UVR lesions in human skin cells. Rachel M. Speer, Mingrui Duan, Peng Mao, Ke Jian Lu.

Inhibition of Rad18 by Arsenic. L.B. Volk, K.L. Cooper, T. Jiang, X. Dong, Y. Wang, and L.G. Hudson.

Association of cytokine levels and mixed metals from extant serum samples with COVID-19. Jordan Charlie, Tamara Anderson, Li Luo, Lily Sandoval, Debra Mackenzie

Cultural tailoring of health science communication for indigenous communities. Mallery Quetawki, Johnnye Lewis & Debra Mackenzie

Research to answer community questions and inform policy to reduce risks. Johnnye Lewis, CEHP Research Teams

Integrated statistical approaches for examining the effects of mixtures of exposures on health outcomes and health disparity. Li Luo, Deborah Kanda, Ruofei Du, Debra MacKenzie, Johnnye Lewis

DiNEH Project: Results of a community-engaged research model to assess the health impacts of uranium mine waste exposures on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. Chris Shuey, Esther Erdei, Miranda Cajero, Sarah Henio-Adeky, Curtis Miller, Bernadette Pacheco, Teddy Nez, Sandy Ramone, Johnnye Lewis

NEW PUBLICATIONS

Van Horne, Y. O., Alcala, C. S., Peltier, R. E., Quintana, P. J., Seto, E., Gonzales, M., ... & Beamer, P. I. (2022). An applied environmental justice framework for exposure science. Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, 1 -11. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-022-00422-z

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NIH/NIEHS P42 ES025589 (UNM METALS) This material was developed in part under cited research awards to the University of New Mexico. It has not been formally reviewed by the funding agencies. The views expressed are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the agencies. The funders do not endorse any products or commercial services mentioned in this presentation.

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