One of the newest faculty members in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health (EOH)—Assistant Professor Drew Capone—was recently named a National Academies Gulf Coast Early Career Research Fellow (ECRF) for 2023. Only six scientists nationwide have been awarded this honor to help contribute to the “advancement of health equity in the Gulf of Mexico or Alaska” over the course of two years. As part of this fellowship, Dr. Capone will receive a $76,000 award and have access to mentoring opportunities to help build his research, which focuses on improving the public health of low-income communities by studying the surrounding environment.
"Being named an ECRF is an incredible honor," says Dr. Capone. "As a first-year assistant professor in the Department of EOH, the funding comes at a critical time to help launch my lab and research program. I am excited to network with current and future fellows and be a part of an amazing cohort of faculty working on intractable health problems in the Gulf Coast region."
The Capone Lab focuses on three aspects of public health engineering: Public health surveillance using fecal waste streams; assessing the fate and transport of fecal contamination in the environment; and predicting the public health outcomes using quantitative microbial risk assessment. The fellowship will enable Dr. Capone to continue using these methods to better the lives of Gulf Coast communities. Dr. Capone gives special thanks to Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington (SPH-B) Dean David B. Allison, who served as his mentor on the ECRF proposal.
More stories about the outstanding accomplishments of SPH-B faculty are always available at go.iu.edu/48bx.