Researcher Engages Communities to Cut Lead Exposure

Research Impact is a series that pulls back the curtain of IU Research, showcasing the faculty creating, innovating and advancing knowledge that improves communities and changes lives.

Michelle Del Rio is an environmental health researcher and assistant professor at the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington. Photo by Chris Meyer, Indiana University Fifty years after the U.S. started phasing out lead in products like house paint and gasoline, lead exposure remains a risk to public health. Children under the age of 6 are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning due to their growing bodies and propensity to put objects in their mouths that could contain lead or lead dust. About 500,000 children in the U.S., many living in underserved communities, have elevated blood lead levels today.

Michelle Del Rio, an assistant professor in the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, is working with communities in Indiana, Texas and elsewhere to better understand local sources of lead contamination and strategies to prevent or reduce exposure.

Question: What is the goal of your research, and what projects are you working on?

Answer: I'm focused on preventing childhood low-level lead exposure from all sources of lead and improving water security in underserved rural areas in Indiana and nationwide. I am currently running a program to develop multiple-level, community-based interventions for preventing lead exposure.

I'm working on several ongoing projects. One is focused on establishing a school-based blood-lead screening for children in high-risk areas. In Indianapolis and also in my hometown of El Paso, we're working with households, schools and public health departments to assess baseline exposure and prioritize areas for mitigation.

I'm also involved in a couple of technical studies to develop better tools that can predict which neighborhoods and households have the highest risk of lead exposure, and how to best estimate exposure risk from household dust.

Q: What's something you feel like many people don't understand about lead exposure?

A: I often think people don't know about the adverse health impacts that lead exposure can have, because it's not something that you can easily see. Once it's in your body, it mimics calcium, so it goes to your bones and your organs.

Spencer Shuff, a research assistant in Del Rio's lab, collects a soil sample to test for lead. Photo by Chris Meyer, Indiana University If it's in the lower range of exposure, you don't have any symptoms, but the impacts can show up after many years of exposure. And that's what we see currently. In early childhood, lead exposure has been associated with developmental delays, lower IQ scores, behavioral problems and even organ damage.

I think the challenge is making people realize that the health effects do happen, but they happen over time.

Q: What do you enjoy most about your research?

A: What I enjoy most is connecting with people, learning about their needs and how we can collaborate to create solutions and knowledge and build capacity within the community. I think that's why I really love my work because I get to do that every day.

I also like to teach and mentor others in the field, whether it be our students here at Indiana University or students and field researchers with other organizations. I believe in the value of passing the torch and making knowledge available to everyone to address health disparities and inequities.

Q: How do you structure your research to be community engaged, and how does that enrich your work?

Del Rio works with communities to identify sources of lead contamination as well as solutions and strategies to reduce exposure. Photo by Chris Meyer, Indiana University A: In community-engaged research, you include the community in all the facets of the research planning, from identifying a problem to developing research questions and objectives to implementing methodologies, reviewing the results and formulating recommendations.

That's important in my work because if we want to create sustainable solutions, we have to consider the input and expertise from the community. This type of methodology recognizes lived experiences as a valid piece of information for research. It also provides a more balanced power dynamic between the researcher and the community and helps ensure that the research you're doing translates into the community and the issue you're trying to address.

Q: Last year you were recognized by the Indiana Latino Institute. How does your Latino heritage inform your research?

A: It's part of my mission to serve underserved communities and historically impacted communities. Latinos in the U.S. often fall into those categories. I have used my lived experiences and my connection to the Latino community to bring a perspective to the research that is culturally relevant and addresses the challenges that I myself lived through, whether it be challenges with language barriers, access to resources and even discrimination.

I think I am very fortunate to be in a position where I can help communities that look like me and address issues that are important to them and to me. We can work together to really improve the health of Latinos nationwide.