Webinar - Advancing Volunteer Firefighter Health: Findings from the ECHOS Study

Dr. Alberto Caban-Martinez is a board-certified physician-scientist, Professor (tenured) of Public Health Sciences, Deputy Director of the MD-MPH Program, and Associate Vice-Provost for Research Regulation, Integrity, Security, and Evaluation at the University of Miami. He has over 23 years of domestic and international research expertise in environmental and occupational epidemiology. He serves as the Deputy Director of the Firefighter Cancer Initiative at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center with a focus on firefighter subgroups such as arson investigators, firefighter trainers/instructors, wildland-urban interface and volunteer firefighters. He is a former Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences’ Gulf Research Program and served on the Institute of Medicine’s (IOMs) Committee of Gulf War and Health for two years to provide scientific expertise on occupational exposures and work-related health conditions. He currently serves as member of the National Academies’s Clinical Follow-Up and Care for Those Impacted by the JP-5 Releases at Red Hill Committee. His research work with first responders and construction workers led him to serve on the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) committee, setting the national research agenda on worker health and safety. He has scientific articles published in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, JAMA Network Open, JAMA Dermatology, CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), American Journal of Public Health, Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM), Preventive Medicine, and Neuropharmacology. He has published over 202 peer-reviewed publications and presented over 298 scientific presentations on a wide range of occupational health and safety topics.

Madeleine M. Sayre is a research support specialist at the University of Miami, where she contributes to multiple projects within the Sylvester Firefighter Cancer Initiative. Her work spans several studies focused on occupational health risks among U.S. firefighters, including wildland firefighters and those serving in volunteer fire departments. She currently coordinates the Forestry & Wildland Risk Discussions (FORWARD) study, which investigates health and safety perceptions among wildland firefighters, and the Environmental Characterization of Health hazards in Occupational Settings (ECHOS) study.

Madeleine earned her Bachelor of Science in Health & Exercise Science from Wake Forest University, with minors in Journalism and Psychology. Her undergraduate research explored intermuscular coordination and fatigue, and she presented her findings at conferences hosted by the American College of Sports Medicine.

In her current role, she develops study protocols, designs projects, and supports field operations and data collection. She is particularly skilled in synthesizing scientific literature into actionable insights and organizing research workflows with clarity and precision. Her work reflects a deep commitment to scientific rigor, collaborative inquiry, and the wellbeing of frontline workers exposed to environmental hazards.