Research Priorities--Earth Science and Medicine

一个国家研究理事会特设委员会将评估医学和地球科学交界领域的研究现状，并就应该进行的高优先级研究活动提出建议，以获得最佳的社会效益。该委员会将报告地球科学和医学界之间沟通和合作的最有利可图的领域，同时认识到传染病和环境因素。拟议的活动将跨越地球科学和公共卫生领域，旨在提供更广泛的认识和理解这些领域的研究工作，并提高对环境对疾病和人类健康的贡献的认识。该研究将为这一新兴科学学科提供一个重点，以确定最有前途和最重要的研究重点。拟议的活动将：通过建议加强地球科学界与医学界/公共卫生界之间协作与合作的战略，加强研究和教育的基础设施；加强对科学和技术的了解，编写一份报告供广泛传播，该报告将描述地球科学与公共卫生之间的联系，讨论从大规模相互作用到微观尺度生物地球化学过程的各种积极和消极的社会影响；通过确定支持医学地质学研究所需的生物科学和地球科学的基本研究需求，并建议未来应如何努力预测和应对公共卫生需求和威胁，为社会提供利益。

A National Research Council ad hoc committee will assess the present status of researchat the interface between medicine and earth science, and will advise on the high priorityresearch activities that should be undertaken for optimum societal benefit. Thecommittee will report on the most profitable areas for communication and collaborationbetween the earth science and medical communities, recognizing both the infectiousdisease and environmental components.The proposed activity will span the earth science and public health fields, seeking toprovide much broader awareness and understanding of research endeavors at the interfaceof these fields as well as raising awareness of environmental contributions to diseases andhuman health. The study will provide a focus for this emerging scientific discipline toidentify the most promising and important research priorities.The proposed activity will:Enhance the infrastructure for research and education, by recommendingstrategies for enhanced collaboration and cooperation between the earth scienceand medical/public health communities;Enhance scientific and technological understanding, by preparing a report forbroad dissemination that will describe the connections between earth science andpublic health, addressing both positive and negative societal impacts over the fullrange from large-scale interactions to micro-scale biogeochemical processes;Provide benefits to society, by identifying basic research needs in bioscience andgeoscience required to support medical geology research, and by suggesting howfuture efforts should be directed to anticipate and respond to public health needsand threats.