Joao Assad, FCLC '26

Major: Natural Sciences

Bio: Originally from Brazil, Joao (John) Assad is a senior at Fordham University Lincoln Center pursuing a B.S. in Natural Science. He has extensive clinical and research experience. His research focuses on examining associations between industrial pollutants and cancer incidence in New York State. On campus, he holds several leadership roles supporting student engagement and inclusion. In his free time, he enjoys running and traveling. After graduation, he plans to apply to medical school.

Title of Research: Analysis of the possible relationship between ortho-toluidine and bladder cancer rates  in Niagara County

Mentor: Dr. Rebecca Williams, Biology

Abstract: Introduction: The  potential relationship between cancer diagnosis and exposure to industrial pollutants was investigated based on excessive external ortho-toluidine (OT) emission rates from a manufacturing plant in Niagara County and elevated bladder cancer rates in the same region. Building on studies about occupational exposure to OT, this paper aims to evaluate whether external OT emissions can lead to long-term health consequences in Niagara County’s community.  
Methods: To test the hypothesis that OT outdoor emissions were associated with bladder cancer incidence beyond the occupational setting, OT emissions and bladder cancer rates for each New York county were compiled from EPA AirToxScreen Assessments and the New York Cancer Registry, respectively. A generalized linear model was performed for the county-level data and a lagged multivariate regression with a cumulative independent variable was performed using Niagara County’s data, including two known bladder cancer risk factors, smoking rates and arsenic exposure, as covariates.  

Results: While smoking demonstrated a positive association with bladder cancer, no statistically significant association was detected between OT emissions or arsenic exposure and bladder cancer incidence at the county level. Specifically for Niagara County, no statically significant relationship between bladder cancer data and OT emissions was identified considering different latency periods.
Discussion:  Even if our results favored the null hypothesis, these findings highlight limitations in data resolution, temporal alignment, and exposure characterization that may obscure true associations as the data is too recent to account for latency period repetition. These findings support the need for improved environmental monitoring and more robust epidemiologic data to better evaluate potential community health risks.