June T. Spector

June T. Spector

Associate Professor and Assistant Chair

Email: spectj@uw.edu

Phone: 206 897-1979

Expertise: Clean Air, Safe Workplaces, Sustainable Communities, Agricultural health and safety, Climate Change, Environmental Health, Occupational Health, Occupational Medicine, Occupational Safety, Opioids, Pollution, Service, 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 and other climate-related hazards in working populations. She is actively engaged in interdisciplinary research to evaluate health benefits of conservation interventions to inform progress toward sustainable development and climate goals. She has been a faculty member at the University of Washington since 2012 and holds appointments in the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) and Medicine (General Internal Medicine). She is the Director of Occupational & Environmental Medicine at the University of Washington and Assistant Chair for Occupational Medicine Partnerships in DEOHS.

Affiliations

Associate Professor, Medicine - General Internal Medicine

Education

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

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

Available to mentor new PhD and Master's students in autumn 2021. Contact an adviser for more information

DEOHS Students Mentored

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, 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

Research

Goal: Equitably and sustainably assess and enhance resilience to human health effects of climate-related hazards, including heat and wildfires

Interests

Evaluate and compare health benefits of different conservation interventions to inform decision-making and progress toward global sustainable development and climate goals
Develop methods to effectively characterize climate-related hazards, and apply these methods to the development and evaluation of approaches to enhance resilience and reduce adverse human health effects
Partner with communities and other stakeholders to document and enhance equity and resilience to climate-related hazards

Publications

Recent publications

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

Why I douse my whole body with cold water every night

June 28, 2021 | New York Times | Featured: June T. Spector | View

Seattle preps, braces for coming heat wave that is likely to break records

June 24, 2021 | KOMO News | Featured: June T. Spector | View

Deforestation threatens worker health and productivity

April 6, 2021 | DEOHS HSM Blog | Featured: June T. Spector, Kristie L. Ebi | View

Co-creating COVID-19 messages for farmworkers

November 20, 2020 | DEOHS HSM Blog | Featured: Edward Kasner, June T. Spector | View

Heat is killing more people than ever. Scientists are looking for ways to lower the risk

November 12, 2020 | Science | Featured: June T. Spector | View

Black, Latino and Indigenous communities hit hardest by heat waves

October 8, 2020 | Everyday Health | Featured: June T. Spector | View

Living with fire

September 15, 2020 | DEOHS HSM Blog | Featured: June T. Spector, Edward Kasner, Tania M Busch Isaksen | View

Heat, fire, smoke and health in Washington’s ag industry

September 3, 2020 | DEOHS HSM Blog | Featured: Elena Austin, Edward Kasner, Edmund Y. W. Seto, June T. Spector, Tania M Busch Isaksen | View

Turning up the heat raises risks for ag workers

August 18, 2020 | Good Fruit Grower | Featured: June T. Spector | View

Collaborating for health equity

August 19, 2020 | DEOHS HSM Blog | Featured: Edmund Y. W. Seto, Jennifer Otten, June T. Spector, Sarah Collier, Yona Sipos, Edward Kasner | 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

spectj@uw.edu

Tel

206-897-1979

Institution

University of Washington

Office

F-225

PO Box

357234

1959 NE Pacific Street

Seattle

98195

More Information

Faculty website

Occupational & Environmental Medicine