Drinking Water Quality and Public Health in the Urban Centers of the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities

Prof. Konstantinos C. Makris is an associate professor of environmental health in the Cyprus International Institute for Environmental and Public Health within the  School of Health Sciences at the Cyprus University of Technology. He has held an appointment as adjunct assistant professor of environmental health at the Dept. of Environmental Health, Harvard University, USA (2009-2015). Prof. Makris leads the exposome-based water and health lab which aims to minimize the human health risk associated with chronic exposures to environmental stressors. He applies the human exposome concept to capture the complexity associated with the multiple environmental compartments and the various sources, routes and pathways of exposure that stressors come in contact with humans. Towards this goal, his team applies improved exposure assessment tools and population health protocols, by having conducted human studies in Cyprus, Greece, France, Kuwait, the Netherlands, and Norway. He has produced over >120 peer-reviewed journal articles and >60 conference proceedings. He was one of the two investigators that conducted the cancer cluster investigation for the Astrasol brain cancer court case in Cyprus. Prof. Makris was invited by the Cyprus Parliament Senate Committee on Environment and Health to provide expert testimony about the environmental health consequences for the surrounding populations after the Mari tragedy/explosion and has also served as a member of the scientific advisory committee to the Ministry of Health concerning arsenic exposures in Cyprus. Prof. Makris has been invited by >20 universities and organizations in the USA/EU to deliver research talks, such as in Harvard University, Emory University, University of Alberta, University of Delaware, etc. and he has presided >15 symposia in international conferences.