Specialty: Medicine
Major Contributions:
Director, Pediatric Residency Program, Hurley Medical Center
Director, Michigan State University and Hurley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative, Flint, Mich.
One of the key individuals to expose lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan due to contamination in the water supply
Named to Time magazine’s 2016 list of 100 most influential people
Image: Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha rocketed into the international spotlight in 2015 when, inspired by a conversation with a friend working for the EPA and the work of researcher Mark Edwards at Virginia Tech, she began compiling data regarding the levels of lead present in the young children of Flint, Michigan.
As a pediatrician Dr. Mona, as she has come to be called, was acutely aware of the dangers of being exposed to this powerful neurotoxin–including decreased bone and muscle growth, damage to internal organs, and in some cases actual drops in IQ. As the Head of the Hurley Medical Center’s Pediatric Residency Program, she had access to the results of the routine screening of children for lead exposure and what she found was highly concerning. In the two-year span since the city had switched its water source, the percentage of children in Flint with lead poisoning had doubled overall and, in some areas, actually tripled.
Knowing that the usual routes of publishing these findings in a peer reviewed journal wasn’t going to be enough to help the children of Flint, Dr. Mona held a press conference to share this information with the public. Dismissed at first by critics as trying to cause hysteria, it wasn’t long before state officials compared her numbers to theirs and agreed with her findings. Vindication wasn’t what she was looking for though, she wanted a plan to help the residents of Flint as they move forward.
As the Director of the Michigan State University and Hurley Children’s Hospital Public Health Initiative she has been advocating for programs like universal preschool, nutrition, education, and health services to try to give impacted families as much support as possible.
Earning a spot on the TIME 100 Most Influential People list in 2016, she was also honored by Virginia Tech with their newly created Ut Prosim Scholar Award in recognition of singular instances of the application of scholarship in truly extraordinary service to humanity.
Publishing What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City in 2018, Dr. Mona continues her fight for the children of Flint and beyond.
Written by Angela Goad
Sources:
Hurley Medical Center: Mona Hanna-Attisha
CNN: ‘Our mouths were ajar’: Doctor’s fight to expose Flint’s water crisis
MSU Today: Mona Hanna-Attisha Named One of Time’s Most Influential People
Detroit Free Press: Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha goes from doctor to global hero
See Also:
Michigan State University: MSU-Hurley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative