Environmental Justice

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.

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. Peckham is an environmental scientist in the Hazardous Waste Management Program in the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, where he designs and conducts environmental and occupational health research to help reduce toxic exposures to workers and residents of King County. Dr. Peckham earned his PhD, MS and MPA from the University of Washington.  

Dr. Kasner is an Assistant Teaching Professor with a research focus on leveraging technology to prevent injury and illness among working populations.

Elizabeth Walker has led coalitions seeking change throughout her career as a public health professional. She has a strong commitment to health equity and environmental justice; strengthening health systems and capacity-building; forming and managing effective collaborations; and enabling community-based solutions.

Dr Galaviz is involved in environmental justice, and has given guest lectures, partnered on grant research with our professors, and supported graduate students on this topic. She keeps DEOHS connected with public health programs in California, at the EPA, in border research, and in local community organizations. 

Dr. Austin received her Doctor of Science in Environmental Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, with concentrations in Exposure Assessment and Biostatistics.

Dr. Patricia Cirone retired from the U.S. Environmental Protection, Region 10 (USEPA) in 2006 where she served as the Chief of the Risk Evaluation Unit for over 20 years. Since retiring Dr. Cirone has been an Affiliate Professor at the University of Washington, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences and a consultant with Ridolfi, Inc.

Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana is a Professor of Pediatrics and Adjunct Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Research Institute. She conducts research focused on endocrine disrupting chemicals in plastics, including phthalates and bisphenol A in pregnancy and childhood health outcomes.

Alison Cullen joined the Evans School faculty at University of Washington in 1995. Her research involves the analysis of risks to human health and the environment, decision making in the face of risks which are uncertain or vary across populations, and the application of value of information and distributional techniques. 

The general area of my teaching and research involves the applied aspects of environmental health practice, i.e., how the principles and concepts of environmental health are actually practiced in the field, especially by local, state, tribal and federal agencies.

Howard Frumkin is Senior Vice President with the Trust for Public Land and Professor Emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington School of Public Health, where he served as Dean from 2010-2016. After serving as Dean, he led the “Our Planet, Our Health” initiative at the Wellcome Trust in London from 2018-2019.

Dr. Sipos is Associate Teaching Professor in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences. She works at the intersection of food systems, community-engaged scholarship, sustainability and equity. Her teaching and research center community and regional scales. Dr.

Dr. Edmund Seto is Professor in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences. He received his PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on the quantification of exposures and risk as they relate to environmental and occupational health.

Dr. Catherine Karr is an environmental epidemiologist and pediatric environmental medicine specialist. She has a primary appointment in the UW Department of Pediatrics, a joint appointment in the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences and an adjunct appointment in the Department of Epidemiology.

Dr. Hess is Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, Global Health and Emergency Medicine at the University of Washington. He serves as the director of the UW Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHanGE). Dr. Hess has an MD and an MPH in global environmental health and is residency-trained and board-certified in emergency medicine.

Dr. Nicole Errett’s research focuses on the development, implementation and health impacts of policies and programs that aim to build resilience in the context of public health emergencies, disasters and climate change.

Tania Busch Isaksen is Teaching Professor and Undergraduate Program Coordinator for the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS).

Dr. Marissa Baker is an Assistant Professor in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS). She also serves as Deputy Director of the Northwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety, housed at DEOHS. She is an affiliate faculty in the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies at UW.

Communities across the western United States experience hazardous smoke exposures from multiple fire sources. As wildfires become more frequent and severe, smoke exposures stemming from these fires are also worsening. Prescribed burning is a promising forest management strategy that can mitigate future wildfire risk, but also contributes to biomass burning emissions and human exposure impacts.