Environmental Health

I recently found leftovers in my fridge that were close to a week old—right on the line between acceptable and sketchy. I performed the tried-and-true smell test, made a judgment and popped them in the microwave. 

David Kalman, PhD Professor and DEOHS Chair Emeritus Joined DEOHS 1978; served as department chair 1998–2014. Proudest achievement Helping to expand the department.

We recently invited students to pose questions to Hilary Godwin, who joined the UW School of Public Health (SPH) as our new dean in July. Godwin is also professor in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences.

Growing up in the Middle East, Hamzah El-Himri experienced firsthand what can happen to communities when health and safety regulations are lacking.

[Reprinted with permission from the new 2018 edition of Northwest Public Health magazine.]  For the past two summers, the western part of the United States has experienced extraordinary wildfire seasons.

On Thursday, Sept. 27, the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) kicks off our fall seminar series featuring a diverse array of speakers sharing the latest science on environmental and workplace health.

We live in an environment that Bruce Fowler calls “chemical-rich.” Our exposure to chemicals found in air pollution, pesticides, lead and other sources begins before we are born and continues throughout our lives. Nearly 1 in 4 global deaths are the result of living or working in an unhealthy environment, according to World Health Organization estimates.

The Pacific Northwest’s “new normal” is starting to feel like old normal in Washington’s Methow Valley. This is the fifth summer in a row that wildfire season has hit the Methow Valley especially hard, causing hazardous smoke conditions that persist for weeks and leaving residents feeling trapped and isolated.

From Washington’s swim beaches to Amazon’s Fulfillment Centers, students from the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) are getting an up-close look at their future careers as health and safety professionals this summer.

A shellfish toxin that can be fatal to marine life and humans may cause neurological effects in humans even at low levels of exposure over time, according to new research led by the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) and the Department of Pharmaceu

Dr. Russ Castner is helping to improve human health—one graduate student at a time. The retired Shoreline dentist never got the chance to use the environmental health degree he earned as one of the first graduates of the UW School of Public Health.

Nothing about Lake Killarney’s idyllic appearance hints at the potential cancer risk lying below the surface. The shallow lake in South King County, Washington, is ringed with homes and the headquarters of the international relief organization World Vision. The lake is favored by waterfowl, rich with aquatic plants and stocked with rainbow trout, largemouth bass and other fish.

Graeme Carvlin PhD, Environmental and Occupational Hygiene Hometown Flemington, NJ

I see toxic chemicals everywhere.

“Growing up in Wenatchee, WA, I was exposed to a lot of agricultural workers. Learning about how the environment affects people’s health—and realizing that many people I knew growing up were exposed to health risks—really hooked me on environmental health.”

Research with real-world impact: DEOHS student’s work leads to environmental recommendations to create cleaner waterways.

Dr. Tzu-Hsin Karen Chen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban Design and Planning and the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington, where she is also affiliated with the Data Science program. As a geographer, Dr. Chen finds great interest in the synergy of machine learning and satellite imagery analysis.

Dr Chan is a Professor and Research Chair in Toxicology and Environmental Health at the University of Ottawa in Canada.

Gregory Bratman is the director of the Environment and Well-Being Lab in the Environmental and Forest Sciences and an Assistant Professor in the UW College of the Environment, in addition to being an Adjunct Assistant Professor with DEOHS.

Dr. Yijie Geng is Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington School of Public Health. He received his BS in biological sciences and bioengineering from Tsinghua University and his PhD in cell and developmental biology from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Joan A. Casey received her doctoral degree from the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2014. Dr. Casey is an environmental epidemiologist who focuses on environmental health, environmental justice, and sustainability.

Resham Patel is an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington, with 15 years of local and national experience as a public health professional.

Dr. Diana Ceballos is an assistant professor in the University of Washington Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences. Her life’s passion is to address health disparities by identifying environmental factors that cause disease, injury or impairment.

Dr. Erica Fuhrmeister is Assistant Professor in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences. She received her BS in environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins University and her MS and PhD in environmental engineering from University of California, Berkeley.

Esther Min (she/her) is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington. She is also part of the Northwest Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU).

Dr. Burkhart is a geographer and climate scientist and is an Assistant Professor of Health Metrics Sciences at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. In this role, she works on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) project, conducting research on environmental risks and methods to include exposure to suboptimal temperature. Dr.

Dr. Julianne Meisner is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) and an Assistant Professor in the UW Department of Global Health. A veterinarian with a PhD in Epidemiology, Dr. Meisner’s research interests focus on the intersection of human, animal and environmental health. 

Emily Hovis is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences.

Cynthia L. Curl, MS, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Community and Environmental Health at Boise State University, where she studies the intersection between agricultural production and human health and directs the Curl Agricultural Health Lab.