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 affects of environmental pollution. CECHE works in partnership with scientists, journalists, educators and policy-makers from the United States, Central Europe, India and other countries. Responsible for 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.

Ambassador Palmer is a former senior State Department official with service in India and Eastern Europe. He served as the US Ambassador to Hungary from 1986 to 1990 and has headed venture capital, media and development firms focusing on Central Europe and Asia. Currently, he is the founder and president of a firm devoted to inner city development in Washington, DC.

Director Leonard Silverstein, Esquire

Dr. Silverstein has a distinguished background in law and philanthropy.

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

Thomas Detre, M.D., Exec. VP, Internat'l & Academic Affairs, Univ. of Pittsburgh Med. Ctrs. Health System, Pittsburgh, PA

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.

Richard Havel,M.D., Former Director, Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco

Leon E. Irish, J.D., President, International Center for Civil Society Law, Washington, DC

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

Peter Makara, PH.D., Director, Hungarian National Institute for Health, Budapest, Hungary

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