Georgia State Public Health PhD Student Nataki Jelks Successfully Defends Dissertation

2016 May 16

Nataki Jelks, a PhD student in the School of Public Health at Georgia State University from Atlanta, successfully defended her dissertation on the environmental health of the Proctor Creek Watershed.

The title of Jelks' dissertation was "Combined Environmental and Social Stressors in Northwest Atlanta's Proctor Creek Watershed: An Exploration of Expert Data and Community Knowledge."

Through this work, Jelks was able to define cumulative environmental and social impacts experienced by watershed residents and to prioritize geographic areas and environmental challenges for investments in environmental monitoring and further research, community capacity-building, and policy change.

The next step for Jelks is as a visiting assistant professor of environmental health at Agnes Scott College.

To learn more about Jelks' research go to: http://publichealth.gsu.edu/ph-d-student-works-to-restore-an-atlanta-creek-and-its-surrounding-neighborhoods/.