This week: June 27, 2025 - NBRC - Strategic Plan, Membership (Zoom only)
Ancient Egypt is one of the world’s great civilizations. The ability of ancient Egyptians to adapt to the conditions of the Nile River valley for agriculture played a critical role in the success of ancient Egyptian civilization. The ancient Egyptians were very advanced in the quarrying, surveying and construction techniques that supported the building of monumental pyramids, temples, and obelisks. They developed a system of mathematics, a practical and effective system of medicine, irrigation systems and agricultural production techniques. The Egyptian civilization interacted with several other civilizations along its long journey. These interactions
resulted in rich advancements in several fields.
The presentation will describe the most famous monuments of Egypt and how these monuments describe the diversity and the vision of ancient Egyptians.
Dr. Kadry is an adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland, School of Public Health, College Park, MD. Abdel is a former senior science advisor at the Center for Computational Toxicology and Exposure (CCTE) in the Office of Research and Development (ORD) of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Dr. Kadry’s experience in toxicology and risk assessment spans over thirty-five years and includes academic research, drug safety and efficacy, food safety and environmental risk assessment. He served for seven years as a senior advisor for Scientific Organizational Development and International Activities at the EPA’s National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA). For Five years he led EPA’s risk assessment development activities as the Director of the EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). Before joining EPA in 2006, he was Chief of the Technical Analysis and Evaluation Branch, Risk Assessment Division, Office of Public Health Sciences, Food Safety and Inspection Service, at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In addition, Dr. Kadry spent 12 years on the faculty of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
Dr Kadry published a large number of peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters. He trained large numbers of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and other professionals in the United States and several countries on the principles and applications of toxicological research and risk assessments. Dr Kadry collaborated with two Egyptian professors and together established an international global graduate course on the application of risk assessment to ensure food safety and security. This course is web based and very popular in both the University of Maryland and Cairo University.
Abdel’s roots are in Egypt where he was born and grew up. He is very interested in Egyptian ancient history, culture, and the effect of ancient Egypt culture on the current Egyptian society. Abdel is very active in community service, offering mediation as a lead mediator in Shared Neutral of the Federal Mediation and
Conciliation Service.
The public health problem of lead in drinking water systems has been appreciated for several thousand years. The Roman engineer Vitruvius (81 BC – 15 BC), who was involved in constructing the water system in ancient Rome was well aware of the dangers of using lead pipes (fistulas) for carrying water from the terra cotta main lines into homes. (A quote which is relevant today on this matter is something to the effect that “We know that lead is bad but on the other hand it is cheap and easy to work with so we will use it anyway.”) Lead may also be leached from lead or copper lines with lead solder acidic (soft) water from chemicals added to inhibit bacteria. The result is increased lead levels water consumed by humans. In more recent times, elevated lead levels have been found in a number of municipal water systems, most notably including Washington, DC (2003-2004) and Flint Michigan (2014-2019).
In other words, the problem of lead in water systems is not new and still with us. Solution range from replacing all lead-containing municipal water systems to using chemicals to reduce lead solubility into water. Major questions include:
What is a “safe level” for lead in drinking water?
For some people, it’s zero.
What are the effects of low dose lead exposure?
Loss of cognitive ability, irritability, kidney effects and
others.
How long does lead stay in the body?
Decades, due to skeletal deposition but this may vary due to processes affecting the skeleton such as pregnancy, osteoporosis etc.
Who is at risk?
All age groups, both genders and genetic inheritance.
Bruce A. Fowler, a Past President of our club, has a B.S. degree in Fisheries (Marine Biology) from the University of Washington in 1968 and a Ph.D. in Pathology from the University of Oregon Medical School in 1972. He began his scientific career at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences prior to becoming Director of the University of Maryland System-wide Program in Toxicology and Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He then served as Associate Director for Science in the Division of Toxicology and Environmental Medicine at CDC / ATSDR. He is currently a private consultant and Adjunct Professor, Emory School of Public Health and Presidents Professor of Biomedical Science at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.
Dr. Fowler has been honored as a Fellow of the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, a Fulbright Scholar and Swedish Medical Research Council Visiting Professor at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden and elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences (ATS). He has served on the Council of the SOT and the Board of Directors of the ATS. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Fulbright Association and past chair of the Advocacy Committee. Dr. Fowler is the author of over 260 research papers and book chapters; he has authored or edited/co-edited 10 books or monographs on metal toxicology, molecular biomarkers, computational toxicology and mechanisms of chemical–induced cell injury.
The presenter, Bruce Davis, is a graduate of William & Mary with a degree in physics. He was a high school science teacher early in his career. Later, he earned a JD degree at the University of Virginia and practiced law in the DC area for 40 years. Bruce has been trained by the Climate Reality Project, an organization created by Al Gore to increase public awareness that human-caused climate change is degrading our environment and inspire the worldwide action required for humanity’s sustainable future.
