Keynote Speakers

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 Medical geology and groundwater in Mexico: experiences and challenges

Prof. María Aurora Armienta Hernández is senior researcher at the Geophysics Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Her investigations have determined groundwater contamination sources and geochemical processes involved on the environmental mobility of arsenic and heavy metals. She authored more than 180 scientific publications in international journals and books. Results of her studies have been used by the authorities to solve pollution problems. Dr. Armienta was the Mexican coordinator of the Iberoarsen network aimed to contribute to solve arsenic problems in Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula. Currently, she is General Assembly Chair of the International Medical Geology Association

 Toxic elements and neurobehavioral development of children in an urban context 

Katarzyna Kordas, PhD, is an environmental epidemiologist with interdisciplinary training, research, and leadership experience combining global health, nutritional sciences, environmental health, and human development. Kordas is an associate professor in the department of Epidemiology of Environmental Health at the University at Buffalo (UB). She also co-directs the UB Community for Global Health Equity and is a faculty affiliate of the WHO Collaborating Center on Housing and Health at UB. With her colleagues, Kordas established and co-leads the Salud Ambiental Montevideo (SAM) environmental school cohort in Uruguay. Her research program investigates the effects of complex environmental (chemical) exposures and toxicant-diet interactions on the health and development of urban children.

 Contributions from Uruguay in the study of Human Viral Pathogens and other pollutants in the environment

Pablo Gamazo has a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of the Republic, Uruguay, a Ph.D. in Land Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain.

Currently, he is an associate professor and director of the Water Department of the North Litoral Regional University Center in Uruguay.

His main line of research is mathematical modeling related to water resources.

He is part of a pioneering team in Uruguay that studies the transport of viruses in both surface water and groundwater.

He has participated in projects related to the impact of land uses on hydrological systems, characterizations of water quality and quantity in urban streams, and led the development of flood alert models for several cities in Uruguay.

 Peru: Heavy Metals and Health

Medico cirujano,

Especialista en gestion de la salud ambiental y ocupacional, con mayor enfasis en epidemiologia y toxicologia ambiental y ocupacional

Con estudios concluidos de máster en innovación pedagógica y gestión de centros educativos y master en politicas y gestion educativa, 

Docente universitaria de temas ambientales y ocupacionales en post grado. 

Surgeon MD,

Specialist in environmental and occupational health management, with greater emphasis in environmental and occupational epidemiology and toxicology

With concluded studies of a master's degree in pedagogical innovation and management of educational centers and master's degree in policies and educational management,

Post-grad University teacher of environmental and occupational issues.

History and Evolution of Medical Geology

Emeritus Professor, Dr. Syed E. Hasan has been an active member of IMGA since 2004. He was a keynote speaker at the 2017 and 2019 MEDGEO meetings in Russia and China respectively. He is an elected Fellow of the Geological Society of America, a co-founder of its Geology & Health Division, and served as its chairman during 2009-2010. 

He was invited to write a review paper on Medical Geology that has been published in the 5000-page Encyclopedia of Geology (Elsevier, 2021). Prof. Hasan has completed the manuscript of his second college textbook titled Introduction to Waste Management that will be published by John Wiley & Sons in 2022.

Mercury in the Brazilian Amazon: a glance

  Zuleica C. Castilhos has been a researcher at Center for Mineral Technology of the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), since 1999. She is the leader of the group Ecosystem Assessment of Environmental Risks and Human Health in Territories with Mining (CNPq). Currently, she is doing a postdoctoral internship at Public Health/CLAVES/FIOCRUZ on impacts from the dam failure of Córrego do Feijão iron mine, VALE S.A, in Brumadinho-MG under Ecohealth approach. She coordinated the inventory of mercury emission to the atmosphere by small scale gold mining in Brazil, in compliance with the Minamata Convention (MC) and participated as an expert in Article 9 of the MC. She is married and has a daughter.