SCICAN - Key Persons

Dr. Elizabeth Friedman

Job Titles:
  • Medical Director of an Environmental Health Program
Proma, R.A., Sumpter, M., Lugo, H., Friedman, E., Huq, K.T. and Rosen, P. CleanAirNowKC: Building Community Power by Improving Data Accessibility. In 2021 IEEE Workshop on Visualization for Social Good (VIS4Good). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Annual Conference. 2021. Full manuscript: https://cspaul.com/wordpress/cleanairnowkc-building-community-power-by-improving-data-accessibility/ Dr. Elizabeth Friedman is currently the medical director of an environmental health program at an academic institution and children's hospital. She is a co-PI of one of ten Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units in the nation, and she works with patients in a primary care clinic. With her academic time, Dr. Friedman partners with several community groups to develop community driven environmental health research and/or interventions to address environmental health exposures.

Jessica Thomas - Managing Director

Job Titles:
  • Managing Director
  • Member of the American Public Health Association ( APHA ) Environment Section
Jessica has been an active member of the American Public Health Association (APHA) Environment Section. In 2019, she led a group of public health experts and worked with grassroots EJ leaders, academics, and policy folks to develop the policy statement "Addressing Environmental Justice to Achieve Health Equity." Jessica has presented on scientist-community partnerships in multiple venues, including at the Ecological Society of America annual conference and an American Geophysical Union's webinar. Jessica Thomas (she/her) is the Managing Director of SciCAN. Jessica has been working towards justice-centered science and policy advocacy for over 10 years, principally at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). Jessica has been learning from, strategizing, and challenging systems with many EJ leaders, communities, and organizations across the country who are shaping and using scientific and technical information to advance and win their campaigns, and with issue area experts who are committed to principled partnerships with EJ communities.