• Worker Health Protection Program (WHPP)

      (WHPP) is funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) as part of the DOE Former Worker Medical Surveillance Program (FWP). The FWP was created by a Congressional mandate in the Defense Authorization Act of 1993, which directed the DOE to fund voluntary medical screening to workers of DOE's nuclear defense facilities.

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    Credit: Jonah Markowitz

  • WHPP Early Lung Cancer Detection Program (ELCD)

      Since 2000, the WHPP Early Lung Cancer Detection (ELCD) Program has provided low-dose chest CT scans to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) workers, with the primary purpose of detecting lung cancers early. The WHPP ELCD Program serves DOE workers from nine sites in the DOE complex.

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  • New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS)

      The NYCCAS program monitors pollutants that cause health problems such as fine particles, nitrogen oxides, elemental carbon (a marker for diesel exhaust particles), sulfur dioxide and ozone. NYCCAS air pollution measurements are taken at 100 locations throughout New York City in each season.

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  • Improving the Health of Immigrant Working Populations in New York City

      The Barry Commoner Center for Health and the Environment of Queens College (QC) has established an ongoing collaboration with Make the Road New York (MRNY), a local multi-service community organization serving Latino immigrants with offices in Jackson Heights (Queens), Bushwick (Brooklyn), Staten Island and Long Island.

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  • WTC - Asthma & WTC - Heart

      Asthma is one of the most common health problems among rescue and recovery workers from the World Trade Center (WTC) collapse in 2001. The goals of the study are to examine what happens to patients with WTC asthma.

      The WTC-Heart study is a cohort study of 6,481 WTC responders designed to estimate the risk of cardiovascular disease within this population.

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About Barry Commoner (1917-2012)

News

Commoner Center and NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Noise Study, 2021-2023

The Commoner Center, under the auspices of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, is conducting a noise study to assess the effects of Congestion Pricing on noise levels in the Central Business District of lower Manhattan and surrounding areas in the adjacent boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. A total of 30 sampling sites across the three boroughs aim to capture various types of site characteristics including bridge and tunnel entrances, residential areas, as well as designated urban background locations.

The study will involve two sampling phases – a pre-congestion pricing period to assess baseline conditions, and a post-congestion pricing period once the policy is implemented. Each of the sites will be sampled twice each phase, where each sampling session involves collecting continuous data for approximately 7.5 days.

At the conclusion of the study, the data will allow us to assess the effects of congestion pricing on noise, as well as provide information on the spatial distribution and spatial noise profiles of different locations in the city.

  • Data visualization example from collected data.

Featured Project

The Barry Commoner Center directs the Worker Health Protection Program (WHPP) in conjunction with the Atomic Trades and Labor Council. WHPP, which includes the Early Lung Cancer Detection program (ELCD), provides medical screening for Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear defense facility workers who may have been exposed to radiation and toxic substances such as beryllium, asbestos and industrial solvents. To date, WHPP has screened over 30,000 DOE workers.

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Current Events

On October 23rd, 2024, Alfredo Morabia, MD, PhD, MPH will give a seminar at the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health titled "The US Presidential Election of 2024 Is a Public Health Emergency" More information is available here.

Faculty Publications

  3. Wisnivesky JP, Agrawal N, Ankam J, Gonzalez A, Busse P, Lin J, Federman A, Feldman J, Weiss JJ, Markowitz SB. World Trade Center workers with asthma and post-traumatic stress disorder perceive airflow limitation more accurately. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol., 2023 Aug 12:S1081-1206(23)00568-9.

  4. Markowitz S, Ringen K, Dement J, Straif K, Algrante E, Oliver C, Nowak D, Ehrlich R, McDiarmiad M, Miller A, Collegium Ramazzini. Occupational Lung Cancer Screening: A Collegium Ramazzini Statement.AJIM, Accepted January 2024.

  5. Wisnivesky JP, Agrawal N, Ankam J, Gonzalez A, Federman A, Markowitz SB, Birmingham JM, Busse PJ. Inflammatory markers in world trade center workers with asthma: Associations with post traumatic stress disorder. PLoS One. 2024;19(2):e0297616.

  7. Kim Bosmans, Emilia F. Vignola, Valentina Álvarez-López, Mireia Julià, Emily Q. Ahonen, Mireia Bolíbar, Mariana Gutiérrez-Zamora, Lars Ivarsson, Signild Kvart, Carles Muntaner, Patricia O'Campo, Marisol E. Ruiz, Kristian Vänerhagen, Isabel Cuervo, Letitia Davis, Ignacio Diaz, Astrid Escrig-Piñol, Virginia Gunn, Wayne Lewchuk, Per-Olof Östergren, Eva Padrosa, David Vílchez, Alejandra Vives, Mattias Vos, Alessandro Zaupa, Theo Bodin, Sherry L. Baron, Experiences of insecurity among non-standard workers across different welfare states: A qualitative cross-country study, Social Science & Medicine Social Science & Medicine, Volume 327, 2023, 115970, ISSN 0277-9536

  1. Laskaris Z, Markowitz SB. Industry-Specific Profile of COVID-19-Related Workers' Compensation Claims in New York State. J Occup Environ Med. 2023 May 1;65(5):e319-e329. doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002818. Epub 2023 Feb 15. PMID: 36787545; PMCID: PMC10171102.

  1. Slocum E, Laskaris Z, Hirschtick JL, McKane P, Fleischer NL Lack of access to personal protective equipment is associated with severe COVID-19 symptoms among in-person workers. Prev Med Rep. 2023 Apr;32:102136. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102136. Epub 2023 Feb 11. PMID: 36816766; PMCID: PMC9918312.

  1. Morabia A. Bringing Workers Safety, Health, and Well-Being Front and Center in Public Health. Am J Public Health. 2023 Jun;113(6):597. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2023.307304. PMID: 37196234; PMCID: PMC10186827.

  1. Morabia A. Costanza MC. Publishing in the American Journal of Public Health: Don't Be Desk Rejected. Am J Public Health. 2023 Mar;113(3):245. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2022.307218. PMID: 36791353; PMCID: PMC9932379.

  1. Ilie AMC, McCarthy N, Velasquez L, Moitra M, Eisl HM Air pollution exposure assessment at schools and playgrounds in Williamsburg Brooklyn NYC, with a view to developing a set of policy solutions. J Environ Stud Sci. 2022;12(4):838-852. doi: 10.1007/s13412-022-00777-7. Epub 2022 Jul 26. PMID: 35910306; PMCID: PMC9321294.

  1. Baron S, Cuervo I, Winkel G, Flores D, Gonzalez A, Harari H. Employment Quality and Mental and Self-Reported Health Inequities among Latinx Housecleaners: The Safe and Just Cleaners Study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Nov 30;19(23):15973. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192315973. PMID: 36498045; PMCID: PMC9741237.

  1. Cuervo I, Tsui EK, Islam NS, Harari H, Baron S. Exploring the Link Between the Hazards and Value of Work, and Overcoming Risk for Community-Based Health Interventions for Immigrant Latinx Low-Wage Workers. Qual Health Res. 2021 Jan;31(1):3-15. doi: 10.1177/1049732320964262. Epub 2020 Oct 19. PMID: 33074048.

  1. Markowitz SB. Guest Editor. Special Issue on 9/11 Health Effects Research: Two Decades later. American Journal of Industrial Medicine 2021 October;64:10:795-892.

  1. Sigel K, de la Hoz RE, Markowitz SB, Kong CY, Stone K, Todd AC, Wisnivesky JP. Lung cancer incidence among World Trade Center rescue and recovery workers. Cancer Med. 2022 Mar 28. doi: 10.1002/cam4.4672.

  1. Markowitz SB. Lung Cancer Screening in Asbestos-Exposed Populations. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Feb 25;19(5):2688. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19052688.

  1. Morabia A. Why Does The Flu Hit The Poor More Than The Rich? A 1931 Social Epidemiology Article Breaking New Ground In The History Of Confounding, Mediation, And Interaction. Am J Epidemiol. 2021 Aug 4:kwab198.

  1. Wisnivesky JP, Becker JH, Ankam J, Markowitz SB, Doernberg M, Dickens B, Busse P, Crowley L, Federman A, Katz C, Weiss JJ, Gonzalez A. The Relationship Between Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Self-Management Behaviors in World Trade Center Workers with Asthma.J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2021 Sep 14:S2213-2198(21)00993-4.

  1. Wisnivesky JP, Markowitz SB, James S, Stone K, Dickens B, Busse P, Crowley L, Federman A, Katz C, Gonzalez A.  Comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder are associated with asthma morbidity among World Trade Center workers. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2021 Mar;126(3):278-283. doi: 10.1016/j.anai.2020.10.007.

  1. Pitiranggon, M, Johnson S, Haney J, Eisl H, Ito Kazuhiko. Long-term trends in local and transported PM2.5 pollution in New York City. Atmospheric Environment. Volume 248,2021,118238.

  1. Matilla-Santander N, Ahonen E, Albin M, Baron S, Bolíbar M, Bosmans K, Burström B, Cuervo I, Davis L, Gunn V, Håkansta C, Hemmingsson T, Hogstedt C, Jonsson J, Julià M, Kjellberg K, Kreshpaj B, Lewchuk W, Muntaner C, O'Campo P, Orellana C, Östergren PO, Padrosa E, Ruiz ME, Vanroelen C, Vignola E, Vives A, Wegman DH, Bodin T; All Members of the PWR Study Consortium. COVID-19 and Precarious Employment: Consequences of the Evolving Crisis Int J Health Serv. 2021 Jan 11

  1. Cuervo I, Tsui EK, Islam NS, Harari H, Baron S. Exploring the Link Between the Hazards and Value of Work, and Overcoming Risk for Community-Based Health Interventions for Immigrant Latinx Low-Wage Workers Qual Health Res. 2021 Jan;31(1):3-15.

  1. Markowitz SB and Dickens B. Screening for Occupational Lung Cancer: An Unprecedented Opportunity. Clinics in Chest Medicine. 2020 Dec;41(4):723-737

  1. Cleven KL, Vaeth B, Zeig-Owens R, Colbeth HL, Jaber N, Schwartz T, Weiden MD, Markowitz SB, Silvestri GA, Prezant DJ. Performance of Risk factor-based Guidelines and Model-based Chest CT Lung Cancer Screening in World Trade Center Exposed Fire Department Rescue/Recovery Workers. Accepted Chest November 2020.

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