Interview: Dr. Luz Huntington-Moskos on environmental health and indoor air quality

This week on Sustainability Now!, your host, Justin Mog, takes a break indoors for an important conversation with Dr. Luz Huntington-Moskos about environmental health and indoor air quality in Kentucky. In addition to serving on the UofL Sustainability Council, Luz is an Assistant Professor of Nursing Education at the University of Louisville and Director of the Community Engagement Core at UofL’s Center for Integrative Environmental Health Sciences. Learn more at louisville.edu/ciehs/cores/cec/cec

Dr. Huntington-Moskos’ current research efforts focus on the prevention of lung cancer by addressing secondhand smoke and radon exposure in the homes of low-income families with children. Using a life course perspective, she is interested in addressing cancer prevention early in the trajectory of a child’s life through the use of home testing for chronic environmental exposures. Her educational background includes a strong foundation in maternal child health and health disparities. As a recipient of two Maternal Child Health Bureau (MCHB) traineeships, she completed specialized training in child health theory, growth/development and adolescent resiliency.

Her PhD dissertation examined the impact of tobacco use behaviors and secondhand smoke exposure on the cardiovascular health of rural adolescents. As a postdoctoral scholar with the Bridging Research Efforts and Advocacy Toward Healthy Environments (BREATHE) research team at the University of Kentucky, College of Nursing, she assisted in participant recruitment and expanded her knowledge of intervention research and home testing. As a co-investigator, funded by a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) diversity supplement, she examined the influence of having children in the home and the completion of home testing for radon and secondhand smoke. She has experience working with under-resourced communities during her service in the United States Peace Corps, as a registered nurse working in inner city Baltimore and on the Navajo Nation.

As always, our feature is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW!

Sustainability Now! airs on Forward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at forwardradio.org