News and Events Caban-Martinez Lab

News & Events...

SCCC Annual Retreat

Friday, November 19, 2021

The Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center (SCCC) at the University of Miami hosted their annual scientific retreat on Friday, November 19, and Saturday November 20, 2021. Our lab trainees were able to present scientific posters on our ongoing fireighter cancer control and prevention work and other occupational health and safety research projects. Doctoral epidemiology student, Kemi Ogunsina with Dr. Alberto Caban-Martinez presenting on a comparative analysis of histologic types of thyroid cancer between firefighters and other occupational groups. MD-MPH student Nicole Vecin with Dr. Alberto Caban-Martinez presenting the association primary language spoken and skin cancer prevention practices. Doctoral Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Students Alexia Kafkoutsou and Umer Bakali presenting with Dr. Alberto Caban-Martinez, Dr. Sapna Deo and Dr. Sylvia Daunert on the fire Investigators exposure to PAHs using Silicone-based wristbands

FRAME Pilot Study

Friday, May 13, 2016

This week, our lab kicked off the Falls Reported Among Minority Employees (FRAME) in Residential Construction Pilot Study, funded by the Florida Occupational Health and Safety Program in the Florida Department of Health. The primary research goal of the FRAME study is to identify risk factors for falls among temporary, Hispanic and non-Hispanic residential construction workers using a two-phase study design. This study initially involves conducting focus group discussions with workers to examine their thoughts and opinion on near misses at construction sites (this is phase 1). Data collected from these focus groups will be used to develop a survey instrument assessing near misses in the residential construction industry. We expect the results of this pilot study to inform researchers and stakeholders in the construction industry of fall hazards and risks at construction sites.

End of Year / Farewell

Friday, May 4, 2016

Graduation snuck in very quickly this year! The end of the academic year marks a period to celebrate the transition of currrent trainees and the accomplishments achieved by members of the Caban-Martinez Lab. Our second year medical students will be starting clinical rotations in West Palm Beach in June 2016, while BreAnne Young, MSPH is wrapping up her thesis examening the impact of occupation and employment on reporting of symptoms about individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus. We also celebrated Hannah Kling's first author publication in the journal Preventing Chronic Dieasase presenting the findings from our Walkng Meeting pilot study. We wish everyone a safe, healthy and relaxing summer vacation in the Miami sun!

Presenting at 2016 ESRF

Friday, March 4, 2016

Second-year MD/MPH student, Stephen Allegra, a member of the Caban-Martinez Lab presented at the 2016 Eastern-Atlantic Student Research Forum (ESRF), a scientific annual meeting comprised of medical, graduate, M.D./Ph.D. students, and resident physicians from the United States, Canada, Europe, Central and South Americas. He presented on his research work from the country of Bolivia where he examined the socio-demographic and occupational characteristics of a sample of cancer patients treated in a large urban hospital (Hospital de Clínicas) in La Paz. He found that female service workers between the ages of 25-54 years old are at highest risk of developing breast and/or female genital system cancers in La Paz, Bolivia. His work is identifying high risk worker groups that require additional surveillance.

State OHS Meeting

Thursday, February 18, 2016

The University of Miami hosted members of the Florida Occupational Health and Safety Coalition meeting in the Department of Public Health Sciences, Miller School of Medicine for the annual coalition meeting. Organized by the Florida Department of Health, the coalition membership is comprised of individuals from government, academia and industry with shared interest in the occuaptional health and safety of Florida workers. Topics at this years annual meeting included quality of life issues in agricultural farm workers, firefighters and cancer risk, heat-related stress in farm workers, the greening of Florida Jobs, using novel technology such as iButtons to track heat exposures in outdoor workers. The coalition membership also set the 2016 annual goals service objectives.

Award Winning Science

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

During the 143rd Annual American Public Health Association (APHA) meeting in Chicago, IL, the APHA Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) section, awarded Kevin Moore (3rd year MD/MPH student), and the BOLTS research team (Charles, Chen, MPH, Hannah Kling, MPH, Henry Olano, MPH, Joshua Sznol, MPH), represented by Hannah Kling, MPH, best sceintific research poster awards for the "Occupational Skin Conditions Among Green and Non-Green Collar Workers" and the poster "Interactive toolbox talk influences knowledge and use of N95 respirator mask among commercial construction workers: Evidence from the Building Occupational Lessons in Toxic crystalline Silica (BOLTS)" Pilot Study, respectively.

Attending 143rd APHA

Saturday, October 31 - November 4, 2015

Jim Fried of Fried On Business talks to special UHealth guest Dr. Alberto Caban-Martinez, D.O., Ph.D., M.P.H., C.P.H., assistant professor of public health sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. In addition to his ergonomics practice at UM, he is an occupational epidemiologist whose research has focused on work-related health trends. He also serves as the director of the musculoskeletal disorders and occupational health lab and Associate Director of the Miami Occupational Research Group. He recently conducted a study showing that exercise is conducive to slip and fall prevention among middle-aged adults (45-64) – just as it does for seniors. You can listen to the full interview: Alberto Caban-Martinez: Slip and Fall Prevention

Preventing Falls

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Acute Joint Pain Data

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Second-year M.D./M.P.H., Samuel R. Huntley, presented preliminary results from the Green collar reseasrch project examening the impact of acute joint pain at the 2015 National Conference on Health Statistics. The introduction of new technologies and job requirements into the work environment may present new physical stressors contributing to MSDs. “Green collar” occupations are relatively new to the U.S. and focus on reducing the environmental impacts of economic enterprises. Despite the rapid growth of this new jobs sector, little attention has been given to the safety and health of this rapidly emerging workforce. Linkages between the NHIS and O*NET data was used to provide insight into potential disparities of occupational exposures and musculoskeletal disoders among this evolving green collar worker group.

DOLORES Pilot Study

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Samuel R. Huntley, a first-year M.D./M.P.H. student at the Miller School of Medicine, was awarded a Pilot/Small Project Grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for his proposal titled, “DOLORES – Determinants of Osteoarthritis Linked to Occupational Radiography: Epidemiologic Surveillance.” Through this pilot project, Huntley and his faculty mentor, Alberto J. Caban-Martinez, D.O., Ph.D., M.P.H., C.P.H., assistant professor of public health sciences, will develop and evaluate an innovative osteoarthritis screening method among Hispanic construction workers in South Florida. he construction workforce is exposed to numerous worksite hazards that contribute to the development of chronic musculoskeletal disorders such as osteoarthritis. Read More...

BOLTS Overview Video

Monday, June 1, 2015

Click for video here. The Building Occupational Lessons in Toxic Silica (BOLTS) was a one-year pilot research project conducted in South Florida, USA among commercial construction sites between August 2014 and June 2015. In collaboration with the Occupational Health Surveillance Program of the Florida Department of Health, members of the Dr. Caban-Martinez lab designed and evaluated a new interactive educational toolbox talk to improve of the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) among commercial construction workers. This video provides a brief overview of the primary research goal of this study and of the interactive educational toolbox talk delievered at the commericial construction sites. Video credit: Henry A. Olano, MPH

Walking Meeting (WaM)

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Results from the Walking Meeting (WaM) pilot study were presented by project director Hannah Kling to study participants. Attendees were provided with an overview of the study results as well as individual study participant results. The WaM pilot study uses a mixed-methods study design to evaluate the design of a Walking Meeting protocol for white collar workers. Participants were followed for 3-weeks to initially evaluate their baseline physical activity at work using Actigraph devices, then for an additional two weeks to examine the impact of the new Walking Meeting protocol on study participants work-realted physical activity levels, mood, and productivity. For additional information about the study please contact: Hannah Kling

ReFLASH Data Collection

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Dr. Caban-Martinez, Dr. Solle-Schaefer, and Ms. Bre Young at the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Training station initating the data collection process for the Recruited Firefighters’ Assessment of Safety and Health (ReFLASH) pilot study designed to collect early preceptions of occupational health and safety, particuarly cancer risk among newly recrruited firefighters. The growing concern for understanding occupational factors that contribute to cancer risk in firefighters has created the SCCC Firefighter Cancer Research Initiative. CBS4 recently covered our research efforts in this high risk worker group.

Lab Members Farewell

Friday, May 8, 2015

The Dr. Caban-Martinez lab recently closed out the Spring 2015 academic term with a farewell celebration at Blue Martini in Mary Brickell Village to a few outstanding lab members who compelted their graduate public healh training. Henry A. Olano, MPH who led the BOLTS pilot project will be at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY participating in an Environmental Health Sciences Research Traineeship throughout the summer. Prarthana Pradeep, MPH who worked on an occupational health surveillance project will be attending the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine (DO program) in the Fall 2015. Josh Sznol, MSPH, the lead data analyst and programmer for the BOLTS pilot study will be initiating US military training this summer and starting the MD program in the Fall 2015 at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.