Dear reporters,
The ten-year anniversary of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center is upon us. The American Thoracic Society has experts on hand to assist you with reporting on the health effects from exposure to the airborne pollutants released in the attacks. Please contact me, Keely Savoie, or Brian Kell should you need any additional information.
Anthony M. Szema, MD
Dr. Szema is the author of the first book on burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, Rogue Bee. The book tells the story of Air Force Lt. Col. Darrin Curtis and is now available on amazon.com or https://www.createspace.com/3425535
Dr. Szema was the first to report that asthma rates after 9/11 increased 50 percent in Chinatown among pediatric patients and that clinical severity was worse within 5 miles of Ground Zero. Spirometry measures of large airway obstruction showed children alive on September 11, 2001, and those born thereafter in this neighborhood have the highest asthma rates in New York City.
More recently, Dr. Szema’s research shows high rates of allergy and asthma among children attending the closest elementary school to the World Trade Center with specific involvement of the small airways measured with an impulse oscillometer.
Dr. Szema has testified before Congress about his work.
Dr. Szema is a member of the American Thoracic Society and assistant professor of medicine and surgery, Stony Brook University School of Medicine, Stony Brook, N.Y.; chief, Allergy Section, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Northport, N.Y.; and a pediatric and adult allergist/immunologist in part-time private.
Please contact me directly if you would like pdfs of Dr. Szema’s original research articles on the effects of post-911 pollution on asthma rates in resident children.
William N. Rom, MD, MPH
Dr. Rom has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles, including several articles covering the effects of World Trade Center dust exposure on the lungs. He has specifically looked at the effect that acute exposure to the massive dust cloud on rescue and clean-up workers and residents. He also authored a paper reporting a sentinel case of acute eosinophilic pneumonia resulting from that exposure.
Dr. Rom is a former chair the American Thoracic Society's Environmental Health Policy Committee that advocates science-based air pollution standards. He has been a fellow in the Department of Interior on National Parks and was a senior investigator at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for six years, deciphering the mechanisms of asbestosis. He was a legislative fellow for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and wrote the Family Asthma Bill, the Caribbean Wilderness Act, and the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Bill.
Dr. Rom is a professor of medicine and environmental medicine at New York University, where he directs the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine and the Bellevue Chest Service
Please contact me directly if you would like pdfs of Dr. Rom’s original research articles on the effects of World Trade Center dust exposure.
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