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For years, Leah Bartlo has been at the forefront of addressing the long-term consequences of lead exposure in children.

After stepping away from her professional career in 2014 to focus on raising her three sons, she re-entered the workforce in 2017 with a renewed purpose — leading efforts to provide early interventions for children impacted by lead poisoning. Now, as a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Graduate School of Education’s Curriculum, Instruction and the Science of Learning program, she's working to fill a critical research gap by investigating how best to support these children.

Bartlo earned her psychology degree from UB and a master’s in counselor education from St. Bonaventure University. She has over 20 years of experience working in human services. Most recently, she founded with the Learning Disabilities Association of Western New York, providing early educational and social-emotional interventions for preschoolers with elevated blood lead levels.

“The idea was to intervene as soon as children were diagnosed with elevated lead levels,” Bartlo explains. “Because their brains are rapidly developing at that age [2-3 years old], the goal was to help them early — just as Head Start and early intervention programs do.”

Lead poisoning remains a severe public health issue in Buffalo and Western New York. Bartlo notes that 93% of Buffalo homes likely contain lead hazards due to deteriorated lead-based paint.

“Many children with elevated lead levels show no symptoms, so parents often don’t realize their homes contain lead hazards,” Bartlo says. “Unfortunately, some children experience severe poisoning that requires hospitalization, but even low levels of exposure can impact learning and development.”

Exposure to lead can not only wreak havoc on a child’s ability to learn and behave in school, but it can also have far-reaching consequences beyond the individual child. Lead exposure affects entire classrooms.

“One in five ADHD cases in the U.S. is attributable to lead exposure,” Bartlo notes, citing the American Academy of Pediatrics.

For the past three-and-a-half years, Bartlo has researched ways to support lead-exposed children, collaborating with UB researchers in the School of Public Health and Health Professions, School of Law and the Department of Environment and Sustainability in the College of Arts and Sciences.

“There are so many UB departments involved in lead prevention,” Bartlo says. “My focus is on educational interventions, but others work on soil contamination, public health and policy changes.”

Despite research linking lead exposure to lower IQ and behavioral issues, Bartlo found no structured intervention programs. She partnered with the School of Law’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic to push legislation making lead-poisoned children automatically eligible for early intervention services.

Bartlo and Kim Diana Connolly, professor in the School of Law, worked with then-Erie County Legislature Chairwoman April Baskin, leading to a 2019 resolution urging lawmakers in Albany to amend the law. “Law student attorneys researched and assisted with drafting,” Connolly explains. The resolution also created Lead It Go, a local initiative providing resources for children up to age 3 with elevated blood lead levels.

While the resolution passed unanimously in the Erie County Legislature, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted momentum for state-wide legislative action and Bartlo worried that funding for these crucial programs might be diverted. Recognizing the need for stronger evidence to sustain these initiatives, she applied to become a PhD student in UB’s Graduate School of Education.

“In 2017, as I built LEAD716, I discovered a 2015 CDC report calling on universities to research ways to mitigate lead exposure’s effects on children,” Bartlo says. “Seeing the lack of national research, I knew this was something I needed to do.”

Bartlo and Connolly received a seed grant from UB’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute for a community-based participatory research project with LEAD716. This initiative aims to create targeted, evidence-based interventions informed by community input and research, addressing a critical gap and advancing health equity.

Expanding UB’s interdisciplinary efforts, Bartlo and Connolly are working with UB’s RENEW Institute; Katarzyna Kordas, associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Health Professions; and Anna Falicov of the Buffalo and Erie County Lead Safe Task Force to establish a research center dedicated to lead poisoning prevention and mitigation — a potential model for universities nationwide.

“That is a dream project of mine,” says Bartlo. “UB already has experts tackling lead poisoning from different angles. Better coordination could yield even greater results. A research hub would centralize efforts and create a bigger impact.”

As Bartlo continues her research and advocacy, she hopes for permanent policy changes and stronger collaborative strategies. She and Connolly are working with Baskin, who is now in the state Senate, and State Assemblymember Karen McMahon on a bill making children with venous blood lead levels of 5 mcg/dL or higher eligible for early intervention services in New York under the federal IDEA Part C program.

If passed, would align New York with 19 other states already offering these services. Bartlo hopes the bill will pass this year and be signed into law by the governor during Lead Poisoning Prevention Week in October, if not sooner.

“This isn’t just a Buffalo or Erie County issue — it’s a state, national and global issue,” Bartlo says. “Early intervention reduces special education costs, criminal justice expenses and social service needs. Investing in lead poisoning prevention is not just a moral imperative — it’s an economically sound decision.”