The Center for Communications, Health and the Environment (CECHE) is a private, non-profit, 501(C)(3) American institution based in Washington, DC. Founded in 1990, CECHE’s mission is to assist under-served communities in the United States and developing nations worldwide by conceptualizing, catalyzing, and supporting programs to improve health and alleviate the adverse health effects of environmental pollution. CECHE works in partnership with scientists, journalists, educators and policy-makers from the United States, Central Europe, India and other countries. Engaged in a number of projects in the United States and around the globe, CECHE is especially focused on the use of mass media and information technology in programs centered around five areas: school-based and community intervention; environment and public health programs and policy; professional training in media and health; public education; and private voluntary sector development.

CECHE's Board of directors

CECHE's Directors and Advisors are leading international experts in the fields of health and the environment and the use of mass media and information technology.

Board of Directors

Dr. Palmer, CECHE's full-time Program Director, is former Director of the US National Academy of Sciences' Food and Nutrition Board and, prior to that, Project Director with its Board on Toxicology and Environmental Health Hazards. She has 30 years of international experience including research, teaching, and program design and management in the United States, India, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Ukraine.

Shiraz Mahyera is Partnership Leader at Gartner, Inc. of Stamford, Connecticut. Mr. Mahyera is an experienced and highly accomplished information technology executive, enterprise IT infrastructure & applications management professional and innovative enterprise leader. Prior to joining Gartner, Inc., Mr. Mahyera served as the Chief Technology Officer at the US. DHHS/HRSA and before that as Branch Chief at the National Institutes of Health. Shiraz is the recipient of several distinguished awards at HRSA and NIH. He has an M.S degree in Information Technology Management and a B.S in computer Information Systems.

Louise Branson is an independent writer. She is an outstanding, multilingual, foreign affairs columnist and author with a journalism background in Russia, China, Eastern Europe, U.S. foreign policy and much else. Formerly, a foreign and war correspondent for the London Sunday Times, she was also the foreign affairs editorial writer for USA Today.

Marga Bergman is an architect, interior designer, and manager for commercial & residential projects and site planning in the United States, Europe and the Middle East and engaged in design of houses, schools, museums, theaters, hospitals, and urban renewal projects. Educated in architecture the United States and former Yugoslavia, Ms. Bergman is the recipient of the Belgrade Design Award and a member of the American Institute of Architects.

CECHE COUNCIL

Alexander Balin, PH.D., Copsa Mica Hospital, Row City, Romania

Junshi Chen, PH.D., Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, Beijing, China

Andrei K. Demin, PH.D., President, Health and Environmental Foundation, Moscow, Russia

Stephen Gehlbach, M.D., Dean, School of Public Health, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Bernard Goldstein, M.D., Dean, Graduate School of Public Health; University of Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh, PA.

Mihaly Kokeny, M.D., Minister of Welfare, Budapest, Hungary

Laurence Kolonel, M.D., Deputy Director, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, Honolulu

Vladimir Levshin, Ph.D., Deputy Director, Russian Institute of Carcinogenesis, Moscow, Russia

Phyllis Magrab, Ph.D., Director, Child Development Center, Georgetown University, Washington, DC

Rudolf Poledne, PH.D., Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic

Nikolay Rizov, M.D., National Center of Hygiene and Medical Ecology, Sofia, Bulgaria

Sushma Sharma, Ph.D., Professor of Nutrition (retired), Lady Irwin College, New Delhi, India

Zofia Slonska, PH.D., Deputy Head, Dept. of Health Promotion, National Institute of Cardiology, Warsaw, Poland

Antonia Trichopoulou, M.D., Prof. of Nutrition and Biochemistry, Athens School of Hygiene, Athens, Greece

David Zaridze, M.D., Director, Russian Institute of Carcinogenesis, Moscow, Russia