Alumni

For University of Washington School of Public Health alum Rachel Shaffer (MPH, ’18, PhD, ’20), the notion of public health has always been present.

Enrolling now for winter quarter: Environmental Health 111, our introductory class  

Breathing wildfire smoke poses a health risk to people of all ages, not just young children and older adults, according to new research from the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) and colleagues at Seattle Children’s.

For Esther Min, the most effective public health science starts with listening to the needs of communities.

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).

Communities in one of Washington’s most wildfire-prone regions share hard-earned wisdom about communicating the risks of wildfire smoke in a new report from a team of UW researchers, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and the Okanogan River Ai

 

Marilyn Roberts still remembers the advice her father gave her when she headed off to college: “Do something so you can get a career.”

A bucket-list dream to take an Alaskan cruise turned into a lifetime of public health service in Alaska for Denise Koch, an alumna of the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS).

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.

I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where I am a member of the James-Todd Lab for Research, Education, and Policy.

Seattle city officials are vowing to increase access to COVID-19 vaccines among people of color, immigrants and other groups disproportionately left out of vaccination efforts.

Explore the full list of SPH 50 Changemakers of Public Health   Five alumnae of the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) are being recognized by the UW School of Public Health as part of its 50 Changemakers of Public Health awards.

I work at the US Environmental Protection Agency as a physical scientist in the Radiation Protection program. Depending on the day, I may be developing radiological risk assessment tools, crafting risk communication products or supporting radiological emergency preparedness activities.

Apply now for our grad programs in environmental and occupational health! Learn more   My advice for incoming grad students: Use your master’s program to create the experience you want. You only have two years—make them yours, and make them count!

I'm working for Exponent, a leading scientific and engineering consulting firm, in their Health Sciences practice. I am mostly focusing on the biocompatibility of medical devices, but I really like the diversity of different projects that I'm working on.

Madeline Benoit MPH, One Health Hometown Portland, OR Future plans Getting a job that serves and helps other people. In the meantime, you can find her at the barn!

Editor's note: In January 2022, Anna Humphreys and colleagues, including DEOHS Assistant Professor Nicole Errett, published a paper in BMC Public Health on the impacts of rural wildfire smoke on mental health and well-being, and opportunities for adaptation.

Washington is expected to face increasingly smoky summers. A few things you can do to prepare now:

Two 2019 graduates of the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) won awards this month at a student research competition held by the Association of Environmental Health Academic Programs.

Annie Doubleday MPH, Environmental and Occupational Health Hometown Shoreline, WA Future plans Working on air pollution and climate change issues at the state or local level.

Erica Grant climbed the steep lava slopes of Rwanda’s volcanic park and trekked through its dense rain forest to see some of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas. What surprised her most wasn’t so much the great apes themselves, but how difficult it was for tourists to keep a safe distance away.

[Reprinted with permission from the fall 2018 edition of Northwest Public Health magazine.] Jenna Buchanan is on a mission to improve the culture of safety at Boeing. She seeks to learn lessons not only from accidents but also from close calls.

Growing up in the Middle East, Hamzah El-Himri experienced firsthand what can happen to communities when health and safety regulations are lacking.

Dr. Russ Castner is helping to improve human health—one graduate student at a time. The retired Shoreline dentist never got the chance to use the environmental health degree he earned as one of the first graduates of the UW School of Public Health.

Mr Matthews-Trigg graduated from DEOHS in 2017 with a Master’s in Public health, and he has continued to work with DEOHS faculty Drs. Kris Ebi and Nicole Errett since then, including co-authoring a textbook chapter with Dr. Ebi, supporting the DEOHS wildfire symposium, and supporting the Global Heat Health Information Network.

Erin E. Masterson, PhD, MPH, is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) at the University of Washington School of Public Health (UW SPH).

Esther Min (she/her) is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington. She is also part of the Northwest Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU).

My work focuses on neurotoxicology and behavior, primarily using rodent models. I am interested in the molecular and biochemical bases for inter-individual and inter-species differences in susceptibility to environmental chemical exposures, especially with regard to particularly-susceptible populations.

Dr Holland works as a consultant on occupational and environmental medicine, both privately and for the Washington state Department of Labor & Industry.  He presents guest lectures for occupational medicine residents.