At a workshop sponsored by the Institute of Medicine's Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine in January 2004, titled Rebuilding the Unity of Health and the Environment: The Greater Houston Metropolitan Area, representatives from a variety of fields worked together to address issues of health and environment specific to the area.

This workshop, one in a series of regional workshops sponsored by the Roundtable, was initiated based on the view that for a long time the world of environment, environmental regulation, environmental control, and engineering had moved in one direction, while the world of health had moved in another. The greater Houston metropolitan area was chosen to be the site of this workshop because it represents a region that is facing the common challenges of urbanization, elevated pollutant emissions, and traffic congestion, as well as major demographic changes.

This summary captures the main themes of the workshop and provides information in areas such as air quality, traffic congestion and sprawl, the obesity epidemic, flooding and water pollution, environmental justice, multiple stressors and cumulative risks, the need for partnerships and thinking systematically, and involving industry in the solution.

The Roundtable comprises individuals from academia, industry, and government, who meet on a regular basis to discuss areas of mutual concern. They regularly convene workshops to help facilitate discussion on a particular issue