Mona Hanna-Attisha (born 1976) is a pediatrician and public health advocate whose research exposed the Flint water crisis. Her research revealed children were exposed to dangerous levels of lead in Flint, Michigan. She is now the director of an initiative to mitigate the impact of the crisis. She is commonly referred to as "Dr. Mona".
Video Mona Hanna-Attisha
Early life and education
She was born in Sheffield, England. Her parents are Iraqi scientists and dissidents who fled during Saddam Hussein's regime. She grew up in Royal Oak, Michigan and graduated from Royal Oak's Kimball High School. In 2017, she penned a New York Times opinion about her immigrant story and the impact of President Donald Trump's immigration restrictions titled Corroding the American Dream.
Hanna-Attisha received her Bachelor of Science from University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment and Masters of Public Health degree from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and her medical degree from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. She completed her residency and chief residency at Wayne State University/Children's Hospital of Michigan. She is an associate professor at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.
Maps Mona Hanna-Attisha
Flint water crisis
Role in exposing lead levels
On 24 September 2015, in a press conference at Flint's Hurley Medical Center, Hanna-Attisha revealed that Flint children's blood lead levels doubled after the water was switched from the Detroit River to the Flint River in April 2014.
Hanna-Attisha conducted her research after talking to a high-school friend, Elin Warn Betanzo, a former Environmental Protection Agency Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water employee and water engineer. Betanzo told Hanna-Attisha that Marc Edwards, a water engineer and professor from Virginia Tech and his team of Flint Water Study researchers, found high levels of lead in Flint residents' homes. Even though Hanna-Attisha was not provided the data she sought from the State of Michigan, she used hospital electronic medical records as data for her study.
At a risk to her career, Hanna-Attisha revealed her findings at the 24 September 2015 press conference before her research was scientifically peer reviewed, because of the public health implications. Hanna-Attisha's findings were later published in the American Journal of Public Health. Hanna Attisha's findings were confirmed in a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) published by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in July 2016.
At Hanna-Attisha's 24 September 2015 press conference she urged residents, particularly children, to stop drinking the water, to end Flint River as a water source as soon as possible and urged the City of Flint issue a health advisory. A day after Hanna-Attisha released her study, Flint issued a health advisory advising residents, particularly children, to minimize exposure to Flint tap water. The water source was switched back to the Detroit river on 16 October 2015. Later, the City of Flint, the State of Michigan and the United States made emergency declarations.
Hanna-Attisha's research was initially ridiculed by the State of Michigan, when a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality spokesperson accused her of being an "unfortunate researcher" "splicing and dicing numbers" who was causing "near hysteria." About ten days later, after The Detroit Free Press published its own findings consistent with Hanna-Attisha's findings and after Hanna-Attisha engaged in one-on-one conversations with Michigan's chief medical officer, the State of Michigan backed down and concurred with her findings. Later, at the press conference in which the State of Michigan acknowledged the lead in water crisis, Department of Environmental Quality officials apologized to Hanna-Attisha. In his 19 January 2016 State of the State address, Governor Snyder publicly thanked Hanna-Attisha and Edwards for sounding the alarm about the Flint water crisis.
Advocacy and program involvement
Hanna-Attisha testified twice before Congress about the Flint Water Crisis and penned an op/ed advocating for federal assistance for Flint children exposed as a result of the crisis published in the New York Times. Eventually, in part due to Hanna-Attisha's advocacy, $100 million in federal dollars was allocated to Flint in addition to approximately $250 million in state dollars to address the crisis.
She is the director of Hurley Hospital's Pediatric Residency program. Since the Flint Water Crisis, she also became the director of the Pediatric Public Health Initiative, a partnership between Hurley Medical Center and Michigan State University, to optimize the outcomes of Flint children. Through community and clinical programs, childhood health policy and advocacy, and robust evaluation, the Pediatric Public Health Initiative works with many partners, including Flint's heroic parents and kids, as a center of excellence, with the primary goal of mitigating the impact of the Flint Water Crisis and serving as a national resource for best practices.
Also in response to the crisis, Hanna-Attisha worked to establish, was a founding donor, raises money for and is on the advisory board of the Flint Child Health and Development Fund. In one year, the Flintkids.org Fund raised over $17 million and awarded over $2 million in grants directly supporting Flint kids' health and development.
Hanna-Attisha was appointed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to three public health commissions formed in response to the Flint Water Crisis, the Flint Water Interagency Coordinating Committee, the Michigan Child Lead Poisoning Elimination Board, and the Michigan Public Health Commission.
Hanna-Attisha is writing what has been described as a dramatic first-hand account of the Flint Water Crisis. The book is being published by Random House imprint One World by editor-in-chief Chris Jackson. The release date for Hanna-Attisha's book, What the Eyes Don't See is slated for June 19, 2018. Anonymous Content optioned the book rights to make a movie, to be produced by Michael Sugar and Rosalie Swedlin, and written/directed by Cherien Dabis.
News and television appearances
Hanna-Attisha's role exposing the Flint Water Crisis was profiled in CNN, Michigan Public Radio, the PBS News Hour, the Washington Post, New York Times, the Detroit News, and the Detroit Free Press among others. Rachel Maddow famously called Hanna-Attisha a "bad ass" for exposing the water crisis and refusing to back down when the state attempted to minimize the effect of the lead crisis.
Hanna-Attisha gave a TEDMED talk entitled "Flint's Fight for America's Children" on 1 November 2016.
Hanna-Attisha was also profiled on ABC's 2016 end-of-year TV special "Game Changers with Robin Roberts" on 21 December 2016. Hanna-Attisha was a guest on Larry Wilmore's The Nightly Show where she received a coveted "Keep it 100" award. Hanna-Attisha also appeared on a special "Who Wants to be A Millionaire" in "Hometown Heroes Week" on 27 October 2016. She pledged to give her winnings to the Flint Child Health and Development Fund.
Awards and honors
Hanna-Attisha, for her role in exposing the Flint Water Crisis and her public health advocacy in response to the criis, was named one of Time Magazine's Most Influential People in 2016 and she was also named to the Politico 50. She was also the recipient of the 2016 Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling and the PEN American Center James C. Goodale Freedom of Expression Award and one of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans of 2016. Hanna-Attisha was also named Michiganian of the Year by the Detroit News.
She was awarded the Rose Nader Award for Arab American activism by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and named the Champion of Justice by ACCESS (Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services). In 2016 Hanna-Attisha was the commencement speaker at Michigan State University, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Virginia Tech as well as two other universities. In 2017 she was the commencement speaker at the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources.
Hanna-Attisha has also been recognized by environmental organizations, including the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, the Michigan Environmental Council, the Ecology Center and Children's Environmental Health Network. She was also named a Union of Concerned Scientists 2016 Got Science? Champion.
On 30 March 2017, Hanna-Attisha was named an honorary co-chair of the March for Science. On 21 July 2017, Hanna-Attisha and Edwards were jointly awarded the first Disobedience Award by the MIT Media Lab for "for defying conventions of peer review as they sought to bring attention to Flint's water crisis before more people were affected." Hanna-Attisha and Edwards donated the $250,000 award to victims of the crisis.
Hanna-Attisha was awarded the 22nd Heinz Award for public policy in September 2017 for exposing the Flint Water Crisis and her subsequent work.
Personal life
Her husband, Elliott Attisha, is a pediatrician in Detroit, Michigan. They have two daughters.
References
Further reading
- "Elevated Blood Lead Levels in Children Associated With the Flint Drinking Water Crisis: A Spatial Analysis of Risk and Public Health Response". American Journal of Public Health (106): 283-290. February 2016. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2015.303003.
External links
- "Mona Hanna-Attisha". Hurley Medical Center.
- Hanna-Attisha public Facebook page
- Hanna-Attisha on Twitter
Source of article : Wikipedia
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