Dr. Irena Buka Children's Environmental Health Legacy Endowment

The Dr. Irena Buka Children's Environmental Health Legacy Endowment is named in honour of Dr. Irena Buka, who established the Children’s Environmental Health Clinic (ChEHC) at the University of Alberta in 1997. She was and continues to be powerful voice for children at risk. The Endowment grew over the past twenty years with small amounts from different sources. In 2016, the Children’s Environmental Health Clinic officially became a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre in Children’s Environmental Health.

The impacts of environmental factors on the health and well-being of children are becoming increasingly important. Emerging evidence clearly shows how prenatal and early childhood exposures affect lifelong health. As the severity of environmental issues grows, public awareness of the full impacts of children’s environmental health on the community is growing.

Environmental health is an emerging field that links the complicated roles of exposures to human health. These range from day-to-day air pollution to unpredictable events like wildfire smoke, chemical exposures from food and water, living near traffic or industry, heatwaves and cold snaps, and how they impact people at different ages and developmental stages. Access to greenspace and other potentially beneficial factors also need to be explored.

The Dr. Irena Buka Children’s Environmental Health Endowment supports actions to address child health concerns through research and education. Community-driven local and global problems include:

• Air pollution

• Wildfires

• Climate change

• Prenatal exposures

• Pesticides

• Chemical exposures

The Endowment supports research projects through summer studentships, supplies and

equipment, publication and conference fees and other research-related expenses. Educational support includes preparing materials for local and global audiences so that this critical field will gain more attention.

Our mission is to build the field of children’s environmental health through research

and education and maintain the Clinic’s leading role in Canada.

Donations can be made online throught the link above. They can also be made as follows:

• Cheque or Money Order:

Make it out to "University of Alberta"

Include in the memo line or a note that is sent in with the cheque or money order "Dr Irena Buka

Children’s Environmental Health Legacy Endowment"

Mail to:

Office of Development

3-501 Enterprise Square, 10230 Jasper Ave NW

Edmonton, AB Canada T5J 4P6

• Donate by by credit card over the phone

Call Bryce Meldrum, 780-318-4196 and to process over the phone

ChEHC thanks all donors for their support!