Marissa Baker

Ally ClonchPhD, Environmental Health SciencesHometownNorth Wilkesboro, NCFuture plansBecoming a teaching professor at a public university.“Environmental health straddles two of my passions: protecting our natural world, and protecting and improving the health of communities.”

U.S. workers are routinely exposed to multiple psychosocial hazards in the workplace that negatively impact their health. 

Amalawa Aiwekhoe remembers the first class he took with Marissa Baker. It was also one of the first in-person classes he could take during his undergraduate studies in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS), which he began during the most socially distanced years of the pandemic.

Kathleen Moloney, DEOHS research scientist. As unprecedented as the outbreak of COVID-19 felt, it was far from the first time a deadly disease has swept the globe. 

 

2023 has been a year of community resilience for the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS). Together with many partners, our students, faculty and staff spearheaded projects to help Pacific Northwest communities respond and adapt to extreme heat, flooding, wildfire smoke and other impacts of climate change.

Bridget Ury BS, Environmental Health BA, Political Science Hometown Newcastle, WA Future plans Work as an environmental health and safety specialist and, longer term, explore how climate change impacts human health.

University of Washington researchers are working with Pacific Northwest transit agencies to study whether illicit drug use on buses and trains may affect air quality in the vehicles.

2022 was a year of growth, change and global recognition for the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS), which secured top rankings in US News & World Report’s Best Global Universities 2022-2023 survey.  

When Marissa Baker introduces the field of occupational health to her undergraduate students, she asks them to think of a job they or someone they know has had, and what they didn’t like about the job.

Last spring, a cohort of students in the UW Brotherhood Initiative toured Boeing sites in Everett and Renton with faculty members in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS).

Shelley Stephan MS, Occupational Hygiene Hometown Irvine, CA Future plans A career as a research industrial hygienist.

Tips for wearing an N95 or KN95 mask: Improve the fit by pinching the metal nose clip around the bridge of the nose. N95s have straps that go around the back of your head.

In 2021, the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) welcomed new faculty, forged collaborations in climate and health, and continued our innovative, community-oriented environmental health research on areas including air pollution, COVID-19 and the far-reaching health impacts of wildfire smoke across Washington state. Explore our top stories below.

Four students in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) were recently awarded scholarships from the American Industrial Hygiene Foundation (AIHF) to support their studies in industrial hygiene.

How to wear a mask: best practices “Help keep Washington safe and healthy: Mask up,” read signs along Washington freeways, reminding drivers of the state’s mask mandate to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Read the full story, including interactive graphics on the research findings. Learn more

 

This month, students, faculty and staff from the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) were honored by the department and the UW School of Public Health (SPH) for their contributions to scientific research, education and community service in 2020.

Business owners who have weathered pandemic closures face a new challenge as they prepare to reopen—protecting their workers in a landscape altered by the novel coronavirus. Now researchers in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) are teaming up to help them.

Read the news release about Baker's study

Our empty roads and restaurants reflect our new reality: Many workers are now working remotely in response to the coronavirus outbreak. But what if your work requires your presence?

Working in construction demands long hours and strenuous labor with the ever-present risk of injury. Women construction workers face unique challenges on top of that. 

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.