About LEARN: Activities & Accomplishments

Public Health And Disaster Recovery

Volunteers helped remove oil from our gulf coast beaches and wet lands.

The recent Gulf of Mexico oil disaster will likely have long-lasting effects on our environment for years. The blown-out Deepwater Horizon oil rig released massive amounts of oil into the Gulf Coast, and now the oil, as well as defoamers and dispersants utilized in the clean-up, pose difficult questions concerning the impact these chemicals may have on the environment and human health.

Scott Lillibridge, M.D., Assistant Dean and Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health, was instrumental in assembling a team of researchers from universities, in five gulf coast states. The team is examining the long-term human health effects in communities and among clean-up workers affected by the nation's worst oil spill. Dr. Lillibridge and his colleagues utilize the LEARN network to share their research. This is only one of many examples of the work Dr. Lillibridge and other key research scientists are engaging in over the LEARN network, many of which have global significance.