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In August, CHE leaders, scientists, clinicians and community partners participated in the workshop Navigating the Science to Improve Prevention. CHE hosted this discussion about the efforts being undertaken to translate the emerging science in environmental reproductive health into timely action in clinical and policy arenas.

Complex scientific evidence is constantly emerging about how the environment affects our health. This evidence is often murky or inconclusive. How can clinicians, policymakers, and others make decisions that protect health when the evidence isn't cut-and-dried? In response to these difficult questions an interdisciplinary group of 23 scientists, clinicians and community/patient-based partners convened to develop the Navigation Guide -- a methodology that forges the strengths of evidence-based medicine and environmental health and can be used to vet the scientific evidence related to reproductive environmental health in a timely and transparent manner.

This reviewed the background for the workshop and provided several participants time to reflect on real world applications for the methodology.

Featured speakers included:

• Tracey Woodruff, PhD, MPH: Associate Professor and Director, Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment
• Jeanne Conry, MD, PhD: Assistant Physician in Chief, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kaiser Permanente North Valley and Chair for the District IX office of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists for California
  
• Pablo Rodriguez, MD: Associate Chief, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Brown Medical School and Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island

The call was moderated by Heather Sarantis, Women’s Health Program Manager at Commonweal and part of the organizing committee for this workshop.

The workshop was hosted by The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE), the Collaborative on Health and the Environment/Commonweal, the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP), the Magee-Womens Hospital of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the UCSF Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) and WorkSafe.