Dr. Seixas is a certified industrial hygienist with an emphasis on the quantification of exposure for occupational epidemiology. In addition to teaching occupational hygiene courses and maintaining an active research program. Current research interests include mentorship for women in construction, training home care aides to act as peer navigators and addressing the health of early childhood care providers. Dr. Seixas is also interested in organizational factors that may contribute to disparities in occupational health experience, especially among immigrant and other vulnerable working populations.
Education
PhD, University of Michigan
MS, Harvard University
BA, Hampshire College
Affiliations
PhD, MS, CIH
Professor
Dr. Seixas is a certified industrial hygienist with an emphasis on the quantification of exposure for occupational epidemiology. In addition to teaching occupational hygiene courses and maintaining an active research program, Dr. Seixas serves as Chief Editor of the Annals of Occupational Hygiene. Current research interests include characterization of exposures and intervention strategies to control exposures to noise in construction and welding fume in shipyards. Dr. Seixas is also interested in organizational factors that may contribute to disparaties in occupational health experience, especially among immigrant workers.
Research Interests
Exposure assessments in the context of retrospective, cross-sectional and prospective epidemiology studies and health and safety needs of workers in precarious jobs. Characterization and control of welding fume exposures in shipbuilding and other industries. Investigations in the mining, construction, waste handling and primary and secondary metal industries. Evaluating the effectiveness of organizational interventions to improve safety and health performance. Developing effective health and safety programs for contingent and immigrant workers.
Construction safety and health. Endotoxins. Environmental epidemiology. Exposure assessment. Global occupational health. Hard metal/machining. Noise and hearing loss. Health and safety education and management. Industrial hygiene. Occupational disease statistics. Occupational and environmental epidemiology. Occupational exposure. Silica. Hazards in welding and metal trades. Workplace hazards.
Mentorship
Not available to mentor new Master's or PhD students.
DEOHS Students Mentored
Exposure Assessment for Early Childhood Education (ECE) Workers
Wai Ting Joycelyn Chui | MPH, Environmental and Occupational Health (EOH) | 2022 | View
Employment quality, health and health inequities in the modern U.S. economy
Generalized Workplace Harassment and Physical Health Outcomes in Nurses in the Philippines
Staci Kvak | MPH, Environmental and Occupational Health (EOH) | 2017 | View
Meeting the Challenges of Reaching Low-Wage Workers Using Community Health and Safety Trainings
Allyson O'Connor | MPH, Environmental and Occupational Health (EOH) | 2017 | View
Research
Interests: Occupational and environmental epidemiology. Exposure assessments. Global occupational health. Industrial hygiene. Health and safety needs of workers in precarious jobs and of contingent and immigrant workers. Construction safety and health. Hazards in welding and metal trades. Evaluation of organizational interventions to improve safety and health performance. Endotoxins. Noise and hearing loss. Silica.
Projects
Mentorship for women in construction. Women are a small minority of the construction workforce and face a range of psychosocial risks on top of other hazards in the construction industry. Mentorship for women entering the trades is a key approach to help empower them to address the challenges they face. We have partnered with the national Sheet Metal Workers Union to develop and deliver a mentorship program in multiple local unions across the country in an attempt to support women succeeding in their profession in a safe and healthful way. This project will run for five years and has capacity for both Master's and PhD research projects.
Training home care aides as peer navigators. Home care aides suffer a high rate of injury and often continue working even if affected by chronic pain conditions. We have partnered with SEIU Local 775 Benefits Group, the union representing these workers, to assist them in accessing medical, legal, financial and physical supports to address the problems they encounter and return to work in full health. We are training a cadre of union members to act as peer navigators to work with injured workers to help find needed resources. The project runs for 1.5 years and could support a MS thesis. There may be an opportunity to expand on this pilot project for a longer-term sustainable program with the same aims.
Addressing the health of early childhood care providers. Early childhood education providers have myriad risks in their workplace and are under pressure to provide high-quality care while receiving relatively poor pay and benefits. We are conducting a study of provider working conditions and health status to identify ways in which the work environment could be modified to support improved health. The study includes a large survey of all Washington state early childhood education providers followed by a series of observational studies in selected workplaces. The study would support MS, MPH or PhD students with interests in health and safety in educational or child care environments.
Understanding "employment quality" as a predictor of worker health and health disparities. Working with colleagues in epidemiology, social work and other departments, we are conducting a variety of investigations of the broad concept of work environment—including psychosocial factors, pay, benefits and workplace power dynamics—and its contribution to health disparities among underrepresented worker groups.
