A few years ago, the country watched in horror as the national media descended on Flint, Michigan. A switch in drinking water sources - from Lake Huron and the Detroit River to the Flint River - had caused nearly 100,000 residents to be exposed to dangerous amounts of lead. Those most affected were children whose lead blood levels doubled or, in some cases, tripled after the switch was made, resulting in developmental and behavioral problems.
That research, conducted by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a first generation Iraqi immigrant and Detroit-raised pediatrician, paved the way for government officials in Flint to acknowledge the extent of the water crisis, resulting in $100 million in federal and $250 million in state funding to clean the water and combat the effects. Personally, she remains committed to ensuring the health of Flint's children as the director of the Pediatric Public Health Initiative ( https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2016/new-pediatric-public-health-initiative-to-support-the-health-of-flint-children/) and founder of the Flint Child Health and Development Fund ( https://www.cfgf.org/cfgf/GoodWork/FlintArea/WaterCrisis/tabid/855/Default.aspx).
For her efforts, Dr. Hanna-Attisha has received countless awards including being the co-recipient of the first MIT Media Lab Disobedience Award ( https://www.media.mit.edu/posts/reflections-on-the-disobedience-award/) for embodying the idea that "science and scholarship are as powerful tools for social change as art and protest."
Mona Hanna-Attisha, M.D., MPH, FAAP
Director, Pediatric Residency Program, Hurley Medical Center, and author of What the Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City
Len Calabrese
Past President, Board of Directors, The City Club of Cleveland
