Nancy J. Simcox

Nancy J. Simcox

(she/her)

Associate Teaching Professor

Email: nsimcox@uw.edu

Phone: 206-221-7107

Office: 2346, Roosevelt One Building

Expertise: Safe Workplaces, Chemical hazards, Community-engaged Research, Occupational Health, Occupational Medicine, Risk Assessment, Service

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About

Nancy Simcox, MS, is director of the Occupational Safety and Health Continuing Education Programs for the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences. She develops and delivers research-based education programs for practicing professionals, including industrial hygienists, physicians, nurses, safety engineers and others in the environmental, health and safety field. Ms. Simcox has over 25 years of experience as a research industrial hygienist at both the UW Field Research and Consultation Group and the Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the University of Connecticut Health, where she conducted workplace site visits; designed exposure assessment protocols for evaluation, intervention and research; and performed data reduction and statistical analysis for health-based research projects. She served as the chair of the Occupational Health and Safety Section of the American Public Health Association in 2020-2021 and serves as governing councilor for that section in 2025.

Education

MS, University of Washington
BS, Cornell University

Affiliations

Affiliate Instructor, Nursing and Health Studies, Bothell
Faculty Associate, Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies
American Public Health Association Occupational Health and Safety Section (past chair)
Washington State Governor's Industrial Safety and Health Conference board member

Lecturer

Nancy Simcox, MS, is a Lecturer and the Director of the Continuing Education Programs for the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences. She develops and delivers research-based education programs for practicing professionals, including industrial hygienists, physicians, nurses, safety engineers and others in the environmental, health and safety field. Ms. Simcox has over 25 years of experience as a research industrial hygienist at both the UW Field Research and Consultation Group and the Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the University of Connecticut Health, where she conducted workplace site visits; designed exposure assessment protocols for evaluation, intervention and research; and performed data reduction and statistical analysis for health-based research projects.

Research Interests

Occupational health intervention research. Exposure assessment. Indoor air quality. Built environment. Pesticides. Healthy Home Initiative.

Mentorship

Available to mentor new Master's students in autumn 2025. Please follow the instructions on the How To Apply page.

DEOHS Students Mentored

Evaluation of Dioxins, Furans, and Phthalates in Sanitary Pads and Tampons

Robin Matson | MS (Applied), Applied Toxicology (App Tox) | 2021 | View

Research

Interests: Occupational health intervention research. Exposure assessment. Indoor air quality. Built environment. Pesticides. Healthy Home Initiative. Green Chemistry.

Projects

As co-director of the Northwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety, Simcox provides Region X with innovative, high-quality continuing education for occupational health and safety practitioners and for their employers and workers. She maintains longstanding partnerships with occupational and environmental professionals and associations in the Pacific Northwest to meet the training needs of the region. With the continuing education team, Simcox also leads the Pacific Northwest OSHA Education Center that serves thousands of safety professionals in Region X to provide engaging standards-based, OSHA-authorized training designed to prevent and reduce workplace injuries and illnesses. Recent programs and activities available on the blog.

With interest and expertise in programs involving emerging chemicals and processes, Simcox received a University of Washington Earthlab Innovation Grant to bring together a multidisciplinary team to work with the food truck industry to promote best cleaning practices and technical assistance. She also served as a co-investigator of Education and Outreach for the Molecular Design Research Network, a multidisciplinary research team led by Yale University that focuses on the rational design of safer chemicals. As a current advisory board member of the Green Chemistry and Chemical Stewardship Certificate Program, she works with faculty and industry experts to develop green chemistry curriculum content and educational assessments. She also served as a co-investigator of a multiyear grant entitled "Green Cleaning: Exposure Characterization and Adoption Process Among Custodians," funded by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and National Institute of Environmental Health and Safety.

Most recently, Simcox increased student engagement with University of Idaho faculty to integrate a virtual reality training module into curriculum of courses of the Pacific Northwest OSHA Education Center.

Publications

Recent publications

See publications list

Projects

As a Co-Director of the Northwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety, I focus on providing Region X with innovative, high quality continuing education for occupational health and safety practitioners and for their employers and workers. Our program maintains longstanding partnerships with occupational and environmental professionals and associations in the Pacific Northwest to meet the training needs of the region. Recent programs and activities available on our blog: https://deohs.washington.edu/nwcohs/about/blog

With interest and expertise in programs involving emerging chemicals and processes, I most recently served as a co-investigator of Education and Outreach for the Molecular Design Research Network, a multidisciplinary research team led by Yale University that focuses on the rational design of safer chemicals. As a current advisory board member of the Green Chemistry and Chemical Stewardship Certificate Program, I work with faculty and industry experts to develop green chemistry curriculum content and educational assessments. I also served as a co-investigator of a multiyear grant entitled “Green Cleaning: Exposure Characterization and Adoption Process Among Custodians”, funded by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and National Institute of Environmental Health and Safety.

Recent publications:

Lasker GA, Mellor KE, Simcox NJ, Green chemistry & chemical stewardship certificate program: a novel, interdisciplinary approach to green chemistry and environmental health education. Green Chemistry Letters and Reviews. Published online: https://doi.org/10.1080/17518253.2019.1609601

Lasker GA, Simcox NJ, Mellor KE, Mullins ML, Nesmith SM, van Bergen S, Anastas PT. Introducing Toxicology into the Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory Using Safety Data Sheets and Sunscreen Activities. Journal of Chemical Education. Published online: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/ipdf/10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00408

In the news

Empowering Latinx construction workers

August 24, 2024 | DEOHS HSM Blog | Featured: Diana Ceballos, Edward Kasner, Richard J. Gleason, Nancy Simcox | View

In Memoriam: Sharon Morris, Michael Silverstein, Barbara Silverstein

July 30, 2024 | DEOHS HSM Blog | Featured: Joel D. Kaufman, David L. Eaton, Nancy Simcox, Michael G. Yost, Janice E. Camp, Lucio G. Costa, Elaine M. Faustman, Catherine Karr | View

Here’s how to tell if cleaning products are actually eco-friendly

April 17, 2024 | TODAY | Featured: Nancy Simcox | View

How to create a greener, cleaner, healthier home

June 19, 2023 | WebMD | Featured: Nancy Simcox | View

Pesticide exposure and children

August 2, 2022 | International Society of Exposure Science | Featured: Nancy Simcox, Richard A. Fenske | View

Clean SHiFT team wins 2022 EPA Safer Choice Partner of the Year award

November 1, 2022 | UW EarthLab | Featured: Nancy Simcox | View

Supporting safer chemicals for consumers

August 11, 2022 | DEOHS HSM Blog | Featured: Toby Cole, Nancy Simcox | View

Public health officials urge lower lead limits

September 29, 2021 | Tampa Bay Times | Featured: Nancy Simcox | View

Public health officials urge lower lead limits

September 29, 2021 | Tampa Bay Times | Featured: Nancy Simcox | View

Many cleaning products are labeled as eco-friendly, but how do we know what that means — and what it doesn't mean? Experts explain.

May 7, 2021 | NBC News | Featured: Nancy Simcox | View

See publications on Pubmed

More Information

Teaching Interests

Environmental Health, Occupational Health, and Green Chemistry/Transitioning to Safer Chemicals

Contact information

Tel

2062217107

Institution

University of Washington

PO Box

354695

4225 Roosevelt Way NE, Suite 100

Seattle

98105-6099

Engagement

Equity, diversity and inclusion

I acknowledge that my position as an educated white woman who grew up in an agricultural community has provided me with many advantages. I started my career working with a multicultural team to develop a bilingual pesticide training program for workers. This experience provided the foundation for me to witness many inequities caused by structural racism and the need for economic justice. It also set the stage for why I pursued community-based participatory research projects with farmworkers, custodians, women in the trades, and food truck operators. At this stage of my career, I realize I have a responsibility to advocate and disrupt a system that continues to oppress working people. I am committed to using my privilege to continue to improve racial equity and diversity awareness in the workplace through a variety of activities within DEOHS and the occupational and environmental health practice community.

I currently serve on the DEOHS Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the Northwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety’s Anti-Racism Committee. I work with faculty, staff and students to design and deliver the UW Worker Memorial Day, an event that often include themes related to EDI. In 2021, I served on the APHA Environment and OHS sections planning committee to promote the 30th anniversary of the first National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit and coordinated a special virtual event.

Community and research partnerships

My public health practice occurs via my role as the director of Continuing Education programs and outreach. We deliver training to approximately 5,000 safety and health practitioners annually. I am responsible for outreach, training needs assessment, collaborating with course directors on program design, teaching, supervision of NWCOHS CE support staff, evaluation and budget oversight. I direct the creation of new educational programs that can respond to emerging issues identified by the practice community. I will continue to use innovative approaches to assemble a diverse group of experts for delivery of our programs, experiment with new tools and technology, and increase collaborations with new and existing partners.

Activities in 2022:

Clean SHiFT--the Clean Safety & Health in Food Trucks project--is a multidisciplinary effort to help food truck owners and employees transition to safer chemicals for cleaning, disinfecting and sanitizing. This project won the 2022 Safer Choice Partner of the Year award from the US Environmental Protection Agency.
A webinar and e-learning series in collaboration with the Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center to increase community engagement and online learning opportunities for community health workers, agricultural safety professionals, employers, supervisors and farmworker advocates.
Submission of the Pacific Northwest OSHA Education Center 5-year renewal application in 2022. I will continue to explore innovative adult learning techniques (e.g., virtual reality technology) that meet the educational needs and styles of adult learners.
Dissemination plan for a reproductive health and work toolkit for employers, health care providers and workers.

Teaching practices

The majority of my teaching activities are associated with the development of curriculum for adult learners in the UW DEOHS Continuing Education programs. I manage a variety of programs across two centers, the NIOSH ERC Northwest Center for Health and Safety and the Pacific Northwest OSHA Education Center. I work with faculty, practitioners and staff to develop new professional development programs to meet occupational and environmental health training needs in the region.

I am working on developing four online programs with the following partners:

UW Foster School of Business to develop and offer courses for the Transformational Leadership Academy for safety professionals.
UW Occupational and Environmental Medicine to develop four occupational disease online courses for primary care providers and nurse practitioners.
Oregon Healthy Workforce Center at OHSU to develop a Total Worker Health certificate program that will include integration of occupational health and total worker health curriculum.
Occupational health nurses and physicians to deliver an online course titled “Fundamentals of Occupational Health for Nurses.”

I also teach part of the professional development course titled “Sustainability, Toxicology and Human Health” for the green chemistry certificate program—the only program in the country that gives students the tools to design safer chemicals and industrial processes.

Service

Under my direction, the Continuing Education program serves regional professionals and employers by taking an interdisciplinary approach in selecting, designing and delivering occupational health courses to address worker health and safety training needs. I continue to bring together different disciplines (e.g., toxicology, business, chemistry) to help practitioners initiate the process of transitioning to safer chemicals in the workplace. I plan to continue to develop programs that help employers and workers transition to safer chemicals.

Departmental service

DEOHS Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
DEOHS Auxiliary Review Committee
DEOHS NWCOHS Anti-Racism Committee
DEOHS Return to Work Committee
DEOHS Standing Search Committee
DEOHS Award Nomination Committee

School of Public Health service

Member, UW SPH e-learning/distance learning committee, 2019-2021
Chair, UW DEOHS Worker Memorial Day Event
SPH Strategic Plan, September 2019-August 2020

Other service

Past Chair, APHA OHS, 2021-2022
Member, PNS-AIHA and NOHC Planning Committee, 2021-2022
Member, NIOSH ERC CE Directors Diversity Committee, 2021-2022
Advisory Member, WA GISHAB, 2021-2022