Diving In: Marine Scientist Takes On Pollution, Policy, and Public Health

Marine toxicologist, public health professional, explorer, and author, Dr. Susan Shaw, dove into the Gulf of Mexico oil slick a month after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in 2010 to investigate the impact of massive amounts of chemical dispersants being used to sink the oil.

Dr. Shaw will share insights from her investigation in the Gulf and her decades of pioneering research on ocean pollution when she speaks at Mitchell College, 437 Pequot Ave., New London, on Tuesday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m. in the Weller Center.

“With oil, there is no safe level of exposure – once exposed, people and animals face long-term health impacts including cancers,” she said. “As we watched BP’s aggressive post-spill TV ad campaign, the truth was, there were more than 1,000 dead dolphins and thousands of people with severe health problems in the Gulf, and it will be decades before we will know the real extent of the damage.”

The Hidden Damage Below the Water’s Surface

She was appointed to the U.S. Department of Interior’s Strategic Sciences Working Group, a team of 14 scientists charged with assessing consequences of the oil spill and recommending policy actions. Her account of the hidden damage below the water’s surface was published in the New York Times and widely broadcast through TED talks and international media including CNN.

Dr. Shaw shares her account of brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise on the chemical contamination of the world’s oceans and its impact on marine and human life. Dr. Shaw appears in several documentary films on the Gulf disaster including Animal Planet’s Black Tide: Voices of the Gulf and Green Planet’s The Big Fix, the Official Selection documentary at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Dr. Shaw is the Director/Founder of the Marine & Environmental Research Institute based in Blue Hill, Maine and Professor, School of Public Health, University at Albany, N.Y. She is a globally recognized expert on the health effects of environmental chemical exposure in wildlife and humans, and has published extensively in the areas of environmental and occupational exposure, environmental toxicology and health hazards related to a wide range of pollutants, including flame retardants and perfluorinated chemicals that are widely used in consumer products. She has 30 years’ experience designing and carrying out studies to assess the impacts of environmental chemical exposure on highly exposed individuals and populations.

The recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Shaw is a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow and was named Gulf of Maine Visionary by the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment. In 2011, she received the Society of Women Geographers’ Gold Medal Award, joining the ranks of Amelia Earhart, Margaret Mead, Jane Goodall, and Sylvia Earle. She is the 19th woman to receive the society’s highest award in 78 years. In 2012, Dr. Shaw received the Explorers Club Citation of Merit Award for “extraordinary feats of exploration and research” and her leadership role in ocean conservation.

For more information, call 860.701.5092.

Photo: Dr. Susan Shaw