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June T. Spector

Headshot of June Spector
June T. Spector
Associate Professor
Email: spectj@uw.edu


Expertise: Clean Air, Safe Workplaces, Sustainable Communities, Agricultural health and safety, Climate Change, Environmental Health, Heat, Occupational Health, Occupational Medicine, Pollution, Wildfires
MD, MPH
[Tabs]

About

Dr. Spector is a physician-scientist with a focus on the prevention and management of adverse health outcomes related to heat exposure in working populations. 

Education

  • MD, Yale University
  • MPH, Johns Hopkins University
  • BA, Harvard University

Affiliations

  • Adjunct Associate Professor - Global Health
  • Associate Professor, Medicine - General Internal Medicine
MD, MPH

Associate Professor and Assistant Chair

Dr. Spector received her MD from Yale University School of Medicine in 2005 and completed her Internal Medicine residency training at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in 2008. Following an MPH in biostatistics and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins and occupational & environmental medicine fellowship training and postdoctoral research training at the University of Washington, Dr. Spector joined the faculty in the Departments of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences and Medicine in 2012. She is the current Director of Occupational & Environmental Medicine at the University of Washington.

Research Interests

Health effects of exposure to hot conditions in working populations. Preventing adverse heat health effects and improving biological adaptation to heat.

Mentorship

Not available to mentor new PhD and Master's students.

 

DEOHS Students Mentored

Estimating a standardized incidence ratio (SIR) for malignant melanoma cases diagnosed from 2000-2017 among career firefighters in the state of Washington
Michael Cashman | MPH, Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) | 2021 | View
Evaluation of Buller Estimated Core Body Temperature Algorithm Accuracy and Application in Agricultural Workers
Jared Egbert | MPH, Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) | 2021 | View
A randomized study of the effect of a job video on occupational health providers’ understanding of injured workers’ job tasks and return to work practices
Jessica Chuang | MPH, Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) | 2019 | View
Occupational heat exposure and injury risk in Washington state construction workers
Miriam Calkins | PhD, Environmental and Occupational Hygiene (EOHY) | 2018 | View
Heat stress, heat strain, and productivity in Washington State tree fruit harvesters
Grant Quiller | MS (Thesis), Occupational & Environmental Exposure Sciences (OEES) | 2016 | View
Relationship between Payment Schemes and Heat-Related Illness in Washington Agricultural Workers
Kristina Blank | MPH, Environmental and Occupational Health (EOH) | 2014 | View

See more student research supported by this faculty member. (Use the filters to sort by faculty member name.)

Research

 

Publications

Recent publications
  • The effect of the participatory heat education and awareness tools (HEAT) intervention on agricultural worker physiological heat strain: results from a parallel, comparison, group randomized study
  • Wildfire, Smoke Exposure, Human Health, and Environmental Justice Need to be Integrated into Forest Restoration and Management
  • Consistent cooling benefits of silvopasture in the tropics
  • Combined Burden of Heat and Particulate Matter Air Quality in WA Agriculture
  • Large scale tropical deforestation drives extreme warming
  • Work adaptations insufficient to address growing heat risk for U.S. agricultural workers
  • Heat Exposure and Occupational Injuries: Review of the Literature and Implications
  • Association between work in deforested, compared to forested, areas and human heat strain: An experimental study in a rural tropical environment

See publications list

Projects

Heat exposure, injury risk, and productivity in agricultural workers (CDC/NIOSH K01)

This project examines the association between heat exposure and traumatic injury risk in agricultural workers, assesses a potential mechanism for increased injury risk in crop workers exposed to heat stress and its relation to productivity, and examines the feasibility of using a biomarker of heat acclimation to detect workers at risk for heat-related illness (HRI) and injury. The project will: 1) estimate the association between heat exposure and injury risk in agricultural workers using established climate models and WA workers` compensation data; 2) estimate associations between heat stress, psychomotor performance, and productivity in adult outdoor crop workers in field harvest conditions; 3) assess the feasibility of using urinary 8-hydroxy-2`-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) as a biomarker of heat acclimation in field conditions; and 4) disseminate findings to the agricultural community and industry.
 

Projects

Characterization of potential heat-related illness risk factors and heat-associated injury risk in construction workers (DEOHS MA/AF Initiative)

This work aims to identify potential heat-related illness (HRI) risk factors in construction workers, using an existing HRI risk factors survey adapted to the construction industry, and to assess the relationship between heat stress and injury risk through measurement of heat stress and psychomotor performance in a sample of construction workers in the greater Seattle area. The results of this project are anticipated to provide valuable information about potential modifiable risk factors for HRI and its consequences that can ultimately be used to target prevention efforts.
 

In the news

Protecting communities while reducing wildfire risk
September 20, 2022 | DEOHS HSM Blog | Featured: June T. Spector, Tania M Busch Isaksen, Edward Kasner | View
As temperatures rise, industries fight heat safeguards for workers
August 9, 2022 | Washington Post | Featured: June T. Spector | View
6 ways communities can prepare for wildfire season
July 28, 2022 | DEOHS HSM Blog | Featured: Nicole Errett, June T. Spector | View
Keeping forests and people healthy
May 2, 2022 | DEOHS HSM Blog | Featured: June T. Spector, Edward Kasner | View
Preventing pesticide exposure for farmworkers
February 16, 2022 | DEOHS HSM Blog | Featured: Edward Kasner, John Meschke, June T. Spector | View
What's silvopasture, and how can it help workers in the tropics?
February 10, 2022 | DEOHS HSM Blog | Featured: June T. Spector | View
Tropical deforestation could boost risk of heat-related deaths
November 18, 2021 | Futurity | Featured: June T. Spector | View
Deforestation's toll on outdoor workers
November 12, 2021 | DEOHS HSM Blog | Featured: June T. Spector, Kristie L. Ebi | View
Deforestation, climate change linked to more worker deaths and unsafe conditions
November 11, 2021 | DEOHS HSM Blog | Featured: June T. Spector, Kristie L. Ebi | View
How extreme heat hits our most vulnerable communities the hardest
September 14, 2021 | CNN | Featured: June T. Spector | View

See publications on Pubmed

Education

MD (Yale University), MPH (Johns Hopkins University)

More Information

  • http://faculty.washington.edu/spectj/

Teaching Interests

ENV_H550 (Occupational & Environmental Disease), ENV_H 597 (Case Studies in Environmental and Occupational Health), ENV_H 596 (Current Issues in Occupational and Environmental Medicine)

Contact information

Email
spectj@uw.edu
Tel
206-897-1979
Institution
University of Washington
Office
F-225
PO Box
357234
1959 NE Pacific Street
Seattle
WA
98195
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