Join PEHSU’s Childhood Cancer & the Environment Program on Tuesday, June 16th at 2pm Eastern, to learn more about the role of environmental health in pediatric oncology clinical practice. Pediatric Oncologists Dr. Nikki Wood (Children’s Mercy Kansas City) and Dr. Omar Shakeel (Texas Children’s Hospital) will share their experiences bringing environmental health into cancer care, highlighting both the creation of a consultative service and practical strategies for integrating this work into everyday clinical practice.
About Dr. Nikki Wood: Dr. Wood is a board-certified pediatric hematologist/oncologist and clinical informaticist at Children’s Mercy Kansas City and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. She co-directs the Cancer Predisposition Clinic at Children’s Mercy, where she focuses on the care of children and families with inherited cancer risk, including surveillance and prevention strategies. She is the Mid-America PEHSU champion for the “Childhood Cancer and the Environment Program.” Dr. Wood’s goal with this work is to empower clinicians to partner with families in understanding and addressing potential environmental risks, and to approach the difficult but common question, “why did this happen?” with empathy, clarity, and evidence-based guidance.
About Dr. Omar Shakeel: Dr. Shakeel is an Assistant Professor and board-certified pediatric hematologist/oncologist in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology-Oncology at Baylor College of Medicine and provides clinical care at Texas Children’s Hospital. Throughout his training, families often asked him what might have caused their child’s cancer and how they could reduce the risk of future health problems. As a result, he became interested in environmental exposures on the development and outcomes of pediatric cancers. Currently, Dr. Shakeel leads physician seeing patients in the Long-Term Survivor clinic at Texas Children’s Hematology and Cancer Center and serves on the Scientific Advisory Council for the Childhood Cancer Prevention Consortium. He is also part of the Childhood Cancer and the Environment Program, a national program of the Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units. His clinical expertise and research focus on integrating environmental health into pediatric cancer care and improving long-term outcomes.