Dr. Patrick Parsons, director of the Wadsworth Center’s Division of Environmental Health Sciences, presented the annual Dr. John Rosen Memorial Lecture at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in New York City on October 14, 2026. The annual memorial lecture marks the beginning of International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, observed October 18-24, 2026.
The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore is the pediatric teaching hospital for Albert Einstein College of Medicine and one of three New York State Regional Lead Resource Centers that provide medical expertise and guidance to health care providers caring for children and adults with elevated blood lead levels. Dr. Rosen was a pediatrician at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore and a leading authority on childhood lead poisoning, including treatment of children with lead poisoning. He also served for many years on the CDC Advisory Committee for Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention.
Dr. Parsons’ lecture, “The Analytical Challenges of Measuring Blood Lead at Ever-Lower Concentrations: A Historical Perspective,” traced the evolution of blood lead testing technologies over the past 60 years and reviewed the major analytical techniques used to measure blood lead. Drawing on more than 40 years of laboratory experience at Wadsworth, Dr. Parsons discussed the operational meaning and public health significance of the analytical limit of detection and distinguished it from the limit of quantitation. He connected advances in method sensitivity, detection limits, and accuracy with public health policy decisions and improvements in lead-poisoning research. More than 140 people attended the lecture online and in person, and it was very well received.