Networking Fridays
Toxic Tides: public health impacts
Date
October 16, 2026, 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM UTC
UpcomingAIR Centre Networking Fridays
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Link to live streamNetworking Fridays on Sargassum Across the Atlantic is a five-episode series recurring cross-Atlantic dialogue connecting researchers, environmental managers, health professionals, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and community representatives working on the sargassum crisis. Each session pairs regional practitioners dealing with sargassum on the ground with specialists whose expertise can directly inform local responses, building not just knowledge transfer, but lasting cross-Atlantic partnerships.
When sargassum decomposes on beaches, it releases hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) and ammonia at concentrations that trigger acute neurological, respiratory, and cardiovascular symptoms. Chronic low-level exposure among beach workers, residents, and seafood consumers raises additional concerns around arsenic and heavy metal contamination. This session brings together clinicians, toxicologists, and environmental health specialists to map what is known — and what urgently needs to be learned — about sargassum's health burden across the Atlantic.
Programme · UTC
Moderators
Judith Rosellón Druker
University of Mexico, Mexico
Judith completed her undergraduate studies with Summa Cum Laude in Biology at the Faculty of Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She developed her thesis on marine microbiology. She completed her PhD studies in Marine Sciences and Technology at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) where she focused on the description of benthonic populations on the coasts of New England and the evaluation of direct and indirect effects of marine protected areas on these populations. Later she took a postdoctoral position at the University of Alaska (UAF) where she specialized in integrated ecosystem assessments and socio-ecological systems. She also studied government management and public policies at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching, A.C. (CIDE) in Mexico. She currently works at the Ministry of Science, Humanities, Technology and Innovation (Secihti) under the Investigadores por México program. Her work focuses on research and the development of inter-institutional actions to improve the understanding and management of the sargassum phenomenon along the Mexican coast.
Speakers
Dabor Résière
University Hospital of Martinique - University of the French West Indies
Mariana Matera Veras
University of São Paulo, Brazil
Mariana Matera Veras is a biologist and coordinates the Laboratory of Environmental Pathology at the University of São Paulo's Faculty of Medicine. She specialises in air pollution and human health, studying how environmental contaminants affect the body. She led a FAPESP/ANR-funded project on the health effects of long-term exposure to gases released by decomposing sargassum.
