Tina M. George

"In Avoca, my hometown, almost 45 percent of the 2000 residents, including over 40 of my relatives, have reported cancer or infertility; the impact, particularly on women's reproductive health, is dramatic. Here is where my advocacy work for women's health and environmental health intersect."

  • Alumni of: 2006 Graduate Scholarship Program
  • Hometown: Avoca, PA

Biography

Tina Marie George comes from a Northeastern Pennsylvania town of 2,000 where most people worked in coal mines or textile factories. One summer, she and other pre-schoolers spent hours stacking rocks in the local Mill Creek, ignoring its orange tint. Their parents later learned the color came from waste discharged by a creosote plant a half mile away. The company that owned the creosote plant was later forced to pay compensation for the deaths of exposed workers and community members, especially children.

She became a passionate activist and educator about environmental hazards, especially creosote contamination, first in her hometown, then in the region, and finally at the University of Scranton. "I worked to bridge the disconnect that persists between the blue-collar community and the student body by educating the school's large population of pre-medical students on the unique challenges of providing healthcare in Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA)." She got female physicians to talk about the health risks to women and created a "Doctors on the Issues" program to alert students to the impact of polluted environments on health and the health policy challenges that result.

As one professor said, Tina Marie does not look for the quick fix but rather for systemic changes. Tina Marie agrees and says, "For me, the practice of medicine will be another expression of social justice activism." She wants to help design public health policy and to educate activists who will push to see that policies are enforced. "If we cannot cure cancers caused by harmful industrial chemicals, then we can craft policy that prevents corporations from operating such factories in residential zones."

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