Elaine Larson, professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

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Barefoot runners risk getting athlete's foot and plantar warts, says Stephen Morse, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

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"The health care system is at least crippled, if not completely out of commission, " says Irwin Redlener, of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

FORBES

Dr. Joseph Graziano, interim department chair of environmental health sciences at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, said the public should switch away from lead bullets -- even if the research is still developing.

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But Columbia University Professor Ian Lipkin, of the Mailman School of Public Health's Centre for Infection and Immunity, a scientific adviser on Contagion, is not convinced that crowdsourcing is an effective way to combat the spread of contagious diseases.

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"There have been a lot of studies that indicate that there are probably other mechanisms, " says the senior author of the New York City study, Robin Whyatt, DrPH, a professor of clinical environmental health sciences at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

CNN: Pesticide exposure in womb may hurt your child's IQ