WNEU Lecture Series to Tackle Health Effects of Chemicals

SPRINGFIELD — The Western New England University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences announced its community lecture series, titled Healthy U. With faculty expertise from pharmacy to biomedical engineering, health sciences to business and law, this series is designed to help individuals, and the community as a whole, make better decisions about health and safety.

The first lecture in the series, “From Sweeteners to Mercury: Chemicals and Your Health,” will be presented on Tuesday, Sept. 26 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Dr. Ronny Priefer, professor of Medicinal Chemistry at WNEU’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, will deliver the talk and answer audience questions. The event is free and open to the public, and will be held in Room 300 of the Center for Sciences and Pharmacy, 1215 Wilbraham Road, Springfield.

Chemicals surround us in our everyday lives. We consume them in our food and medications and have frequent contact with them in our homes and on the job. While some people are fearful that chemicals are harmful to their health, it is important to remember that the human body is essentially a large container of chemicals. This lecture will help demystify some of the general concerns about chemicals and those chemicals that may be harmful after years of low exposure.

The second lecture in the Healthy U Series, “Let’s Talk About It: Opioid Overdose Prevention Basics,” will be held on November 8 at 6:30 p.m. Some future talks in the Healthy U series will explore such topics as “Drugs in the Water and in Nature,” “Are Pharmaceutical Companies Evil?” “Drugs and Genes,” “Medical Marijuana Laws,” and “Bugs and Drugs.”

More information is available at wne.edu/pharmacy/community/healthy-u. Registration is not required, but an RSVP is appreciated at ronny.priefer@wne.edu.