Chemical hazards

More than a dozen students in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) attended the 2025 Society of Toxicology (SOT) Annual Meeting and ToxExpo in Orlando, Florida last month. Seven students took home awards for their work in areas ranging from e-cigarette toxicity to the gut microbiome. Learn more about their research and what inspires them below.

Minola de SilvaBS, Environmental Public HealthHometownSeattle, WA“It opened my eyes to environmental justice issues that rural communities can face.”-Minola de Silva

Maegan ChuaBS in Environmental Public HealthHometownKetchikan, AKInternship with:Public Health – Seattle & King County

At the end of this month, Michael Yost will be stepping down after a 10-year term as chair of the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS).

Nell ThompsonBS, Environmental Public HealthHometownLynnwood, WAFuture plansGetting a master's of public health.“The learning opportunities I've had at UW have been really inspiring.”- Nell Thompson

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

If you’re pregnant, you may want to think twice before making a hamburger run or reaching for a prepackaged pastry, according to research published last month in the journal Environmental International. 

John Lykins Applied MS, Environmental Health Sciences Hometown Midland, OH Future plans A career as an industrial hygienist in the maritime industries. “I want to find solutions that have a minimal impact on people’s workflow while providing maximum protection for workers.”

Aesha Mokashi MS, Environmental Health Sciences Hometown Portland, OR Future plans Working as an environmental health scientist with King County and internationally.

As a young woman, Diana Ceballos spent Saturdays volunteering with impoverished children living in a neighborhood built on top of a garbage dump in her native Medellin, Colombia.

Dr. Catherine Karr completed years of specialty training in pediatrics and can’t recall ever being taught about the issue of lead poisoning, which causes neurodevelopmental issues in children.

Could studying how zebrafish swim help uncover a cure for autism? Yijie Geng thinks so.

Thomas BurbacherProfessor, UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health SciencesProudest achievements:Making discoveries in toxicology and seeing how research is used for public health protection, engaging with communities and teaching undergraduatesJoined DEOHS faculty:1991

When most people think about the causes of diabetes and obesity, they think about diet, physical activity and family history. But when Joe Lim thinks about these diseases, he thinks about environmental toxicants that are often invisible to the senses yet can have an enormous impact decades into a person’s life.

Asheton Gilbertson MS, Occupational Hygiene Hometown Denver, CO Future plans Working as an industrial hygienist at Sandia National Laboratories. “My work with firefighters helped solidify that I made the right choice in coming to UW, because I would not have gotten to do this anywhere else.”

Two teams of researchers from the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciencs (DEOHS) and their partners recently received grants from the UW Population Health Initiative for projects focusing on supporting healthy home environments in Washington’s Yakima Valley and understanding the connections between community-based land management and disease outbreaks in Brazil.

Register now for Dr. Lynn Goldman's Apr. 20 talk: Cumulative Environmental Risk Impacts of Redlining: Houston as a Case Study As dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, Dr.

Sarah Kim recently won the prestigious Carl Smith Graduate Student Award at the 2023 meeting of the Society of Toxicology.

University of Washington researchers are working with Pacific Northwest transit agencies to study whether illicit drug use on buses and trains may affect air quality in the vehicles.

The Society of Toxicology recently recognized several researchers in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS), including three members of DEOHS Associate Professor Julia Yue Cui’s lab.

For her many contributions to assessing the risk of chemical hazards, Elaine Faustman has been awarded the 2023 Arnold J.

 

Last year, two treasured members of the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) community passed away: Emeritus Professors Jane Koenig and Daniel Luchtel.

Evan GallagherProfessor, UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health SciencesProudest achievements:Showing how biochemical pathways in fish make them susceptible to toxic chemicals, and what this means for human disease; Directing the UW Superfund Research Program; Mentoring students and postdocs.

Firefighters risk their lives responding to emergencies, but they also jeopardize their long-term health through exposure to toxic chemicals and other occupational hazards. As a result, firefighters are at increased risk for cancer, cardiovascular disease and other health conditions.

Lucio CostaProfessor, UW Department of Environmental & Occupational HealthProudest achievements:Research he led with others on PBDEs (flame-retardant chemicals) that may act as developmental neurotoxicants, and his work on two enzymes known as paraoxonases (PON1 and PON2) that possess antioxidant properties and may protect against some health c

Greta Gunning BS, Environmental Health Hometown Seattle, WA Future plans A career as a public health scientist, likely at a public agency “It was great to see how prioritizing relationships could make a meaningful impact in public health.” - Greta Gunning

When Marissa Baker introduces the field of occupational health to her undergraduate students, she asks them to think of a job they or someone they know has had, and what they didn’t like about the job.