Annual Conference Presentations

The Pesticides & the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Project holds one-day annual meetings or, since the pandemic,  webinars across several days each Fall to provide cutting edge science and policy updates on key trends regarding pesticides and the Bay.  Project stakeholders also share information on the progress of the Project’s four working groups and plan Project initiatives for the year ahead.

Leading national science and policy experts on pesticide-related issues address conference participants, while working group members meet later in small group sessions. The presentations and discussions are designed to catalyze progress on Bay-related pesticide problems. Those attending include federal, state, and local agency scientists and engineers, public health officials, academic experts, farmers, beekeepers, watermen, waterkeepers, watershed association representatives, and environmental advocates.

Presentations to the Thirteenth Annual Conference, 2019

• Linda Birnbaum, PhD, Director, National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences & National Toxicology Program Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: Health Effects and Moving Forward
• Kelly Smalling, MSPH, Senior Scientist, US Geological Survey Chesapeake Bay Watershed Program Endocrine Disrupting Compounds in Agriculturally Dominated Chesapeake Bay Watershed
• Hartmut Doebel, PhD, Assistant Professor & Insect Ecologist, George Washington UniversityWhy Insects Matter to Life on Earth
• Kendra Klein, PhD, Senior Scientist, Friends of the Earth Dietary Exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Pesticides and the Healthy Food Movement

Presentations to the Twelfth Annual Conference, 2018 

• Devon Payne-Sturges, DrPH (keynote speaker), Assistant Professor of Applied Environmental Health, University of Maryland School of Public Health Learning from the Struggles of Science Policy to Protect Public Health
• Doug Myers, MS, Maryland Senior Scientist, Chesapeake Bay Foundation Impact of Pesticides on the Bay Watershed
• Jody Johnson, PhD, Honeybee Research Scientist Impacts of Pesticides on Pollinators
• Robert Musil, PhD, MPH, President & CEO, Rachel Carson Council Pesticides & Climate Change.

Presentations to the Eleventh Annual Conference, 2017 

• Dr. Kristine Nichols, Chief Scientist, Rodale Institute. Soil Health, Climate Change & Our Waterways
• Jay Feldman, Executive Director, Beyond Pesticides Local & State Action in Response to Changing Times
• Dr. Vicki Blazer, Fish Research Ecologist, US Geological Survey New Research on Pesticides and the Bay Watershed.
• Betsy Nicholas, Executive Director, Waterkeepers Chesapeake Pesticides in the Chesapeake Bay.

Presentations to the Tenth Annual Conference, 2016

• Dr. Robert Lawrence, Director-Emeritus, Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins University. Keynote address: The past 10 years achievements: lessons learned and looking ahead to the next 10 years
• Dr. Vicki Blazer, US Geological Survey Pesticides found in select Bay tributaries and their potential impact – Part 1 Part 2
• Dr. Hartmut Doebel, George Washington University New research on impacts of neonicotinoid pesticides on bees

Presentations from the Ninth Annual Conference, 2015

• Dr Pete Myers, Environmental Health Sciences and Carnegie Mellon University,, Pesticides, endocrine disruptors and a look toward the future
• Dr April Boulton, Hood College, To Bee or Not to Bee: Declining Pollinator Populations
• Dr Carys Mitchelmore, University of Maryland Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, Neonicotinoids & the Chesapeake Bay — An Overview of Aquatic Toxicity Concerns
• Dr Ray Weil, University of Maryland, College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, The Soil Health Revolution in American Agriculture — and What Its Success Could Mean for the Planet

Presentations from the Eighth Annual Conference, 2014

• Dr., Melissa Perry, President-elect, American College of Epidemiology & Professor, George Washington University Miliken Institute School of Public Health, Endocrine Disruptors in the Potomac River Valley
• Dr Vicki Blazer, Fish Pathologist, USGS National Fish Health Research Lab, Current Research on Fish Impacts in the Bay Watershed from Endocrine Disruptors & Pesticides
• Dr Cathleen Hapeman, Environmental Organic Chemist, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, USDA’s Long-Term Agricultural Research Network: Identifying where conservation practices are most useful
• Greg Allen, Environmental Scientist, US EPA Chesapeake Bay Program, Update: The Chesapeake Bay Agreement

Presentations from the Seventh Annual Conference, 2013

• Dr Vicki Blazer, US Geological Survey, “Fish Health Issues in the Chesapeake: Possible Associations with Pesticides” (presented by Robert SanGeorge)
• Dr Tim Male, Takoma Park City Councilman, “Development & Passage of the Safe Grow Act in Takoma Park, Maryland”
• Karen Rennich, Bee Informed Partnership, “Factors Affecting Bee Colony Collapse”
• Greg Allen, EPA, “Chesapeake Bay Program: Update on Program Integration of Chemical Contaminants” (presented by Ruth Berlin)

Presentations from the Sixth Annual Conference, 2012

• How the Environment Affects Your Health
  Dr. Linda Birnbaum, Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of NIH
• Chesapeake Bay Program Report on Extent and Severity of Toxic Contaminants in Chesapeake Bay and the Watershed
  Greg Allen, Senior Environmental Scientist, Chesapeake Bay Program Office, U.S. EPA Region III

Presentations from the Fifth Annual Conference, 2011

• Chesapeake Bay Watershed Pesticide Use Declines But Toxicity Increases
  Ian Hartwell, PhD, Senior Scientist in Aquatic Toxicology, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
• Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology, Inc.
  Russell Brinsfield, PhD, Executive Director of the Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology at the University of Maryland.
• Pesticides and Cancer: Selected Overview and Review of Recent Literature
  Richard L. Humphrey, M.D., Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and School of Public Health.
• Human Health Effects
  of Pesticides: A Pediatric Emphasis
  Lorne Garrettson, M.D., Maryland Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
• Fish Health and Potential Associations with Pesticides
  Vicki Blazer, PhD, Research Scientist, US Geological Survey National Fish Health Laboratory
• Policy and Regulatory Update
  Jay Feldman, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Beyond Pesticides.

Presentations from the Fourth Annual Conference, 2010

• Chesapeake Bay Health and Agricultural Challenges:Reducing Risk & Improving Science
  Cathleen Hapeman, PhD, Research Chemist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD
• Intersex Incidence in Fishes: Understanding the Incidence, Severity and Causes
  Donald Tillitt, PhD, Branch Chief, Biochemistry/Physiology, Columbia Environmental Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Columbia, Missouri
• US EPA Office of Pesticide Programs — Policy Update/Regulatory Issues
  Bob McNally, Chief, Risk Management and Implementation Branch IV, Pesticide Re-evaluation Division, Office of Pesticide Programs, U.S. EPA
• Update on Office of Water Activities and Perspectives
  Diana Eignor, M.S., Biologist, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water, Science and Technology, U.S. EPA
• National and State Policy Perspective
  Jay Feldman, M.A., Executive Director, Beyond Pesticides

Presentations from the Third Annual Conference, 2009

• Fish Health Issues in the Chesapeake: Possible Associations with Pesticides
  Vicki Blazer, U.S Geological Survey, National Fish Health Research Laboratory, Leetown Science Center, Kearneysville, WV
• Chesapeake Bay Health and Agricultural Challenges: Choptank River Watershed
  Cathleen J. Hapeman, Research Environmental Chemist, Agricultural Research Service

Presentations from the Second Annual Conference, 2008

• The Precautionary Principle
  Lorne Garrettson, M.D., American Academy of Pediatrics, MD Chapter
• Impact of Pesticides on Public Health
  Andrea Kidd-Taylor, Dr. P.H., Assistant Professor, Morgan State University Community Health and Policy Program
• Organic Farming as a Best Management Practice
  Luke R. Howard, Chair, MD State Agricultural Commission, and Erroll Mattox, Farm Management Specialist, UMD Extension Services
• EQIP- Best Management Practices for Farmers
  Tim Pilkowski, MD State Conservation Agronomist, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Services
• Natural Lawn Care as a Best Management Practice
  Phil Catron, President, NaturaLawn of America, Inc.

Presentations from the First Annual Conference, 2007

• Ecological Effects of Pesticides in Waterways: Atrazine
  Tyrone B. Hayes, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley
• Public Health Effects of Pesticide Exposure
  Lynn R. Goldman, MD, MPH, Professor, Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
• Antimicrobial Agents in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
  Rolf U. Halden, PhD, PE, Assistant Professor, Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
• Framework: Assessing Existing Data & Policies
  Toni M. Nunes, MA, MPH, Program Director, MD Pesticide Network
• Perspectives on Policy Strengths and Weaknesses
  Jay E. Feldman, MA, Executive Director, Beyond Pesticides
• EPA’s Regulatory Policies: Clean Water Act & Safe Drink Water Act
  Octavia Conerly, MSPH, Research Scientist, Office of Water, US EPA