Climate Change

Read the full UW news release Changes in our environment are creating new challenges: new disease patterns, threats to mental health, malnutrition and unpredictable natural disasters.

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.

Four teams of researchers in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) and their collaborators recently received awards from the UW Population Health Initiative to pursue projects focused on the health impacts of military aircraft noise pollution, using drones to monitor harmful algal blooms, engaging youth in disaster planning and incorporating public health

Talk to Catherine Karr’s students, past and present, and you’ll hear a common refrain: she is deeply engaged and invested in their lives.

Claire Schollaert PhD, Environmental & Occupational Hygiene Hometown Walnut Creek, CA Future plans A career as an environmental health scientist in academia, government or the nonprofit sector

DEOHS Assistant Professor Joan Casey.

Heat is a quiet killer. Unlike most natural disasters, which can leave visible damage across an entire region, a heat wave’s effects on human health can be difficult to track.

 

Evan Gallagher Professor, UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences Proudest 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.

2022 was a year of growth, change and global recognition for the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS), which secured top rankings in US News & World Report’s Best Global Universities 2022-2023 survey.  

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

A new $2.3 million program funded by the US National Science Foundation will educate and equip young scientists to cultivate resilience to climate impacts such as flooding and extreme heat.

Two teams of researchers in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) and their partners have been awarded grants from the University of Washington Population Health Initiative to support research on the health impacts of wildfire smoke and extreme heat.

Register now for Joseph Allen's Nov. 3 talk: "Healthy Buildings: The Nexus of COVID, Climate and Worker Health" As director of Harvard’s Healthy Buildings Program, Joseph Allen often invites people to take their age and multiply it by 0.9.

“Have you ever been working in the field and been unable to see the sun because of smoke?” At a recent outreach event for farmworker families in Central Washington, participants were asked questions like this one about the challenges they face during wildfire smoke season, with an invitation to raise their hands when they agreed.

Associate Teaching Professor Tania Busch IsaksenHeat-related deaths are widespread across Washington state, and they occur even in regions that typically have milder climates, according to a

Isabel Nerenberg, MS student in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS), is one of two recipients of this year’s Russell L. Castner Endowed Student Research Fund, which supports student research in environmental health.

Claire Schollaert, PhD student in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS), is one of two recipients of this year’s Russell L. Castner Endowed Student Research Fund, which supports student research in environmental health.

DEOHS Assistant Professor Nicole Errett How do you plan ahead for the unforeseen?

Learn more about our work on the health impacts of extreme heat Extreme heat kills more people in the US than any other weather event. Scientists expect climate change to make this worse; already, 37% of heat-related deaths are thought to be due to climate change.

Since it launched in 2019, Washington’s Environmental Health Disparities Map has been used to help decision-makers and government agencies work with communities to clean up contamination, improve buildings and electric grids, plant trees and many other projects.

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

Aarti Tandon BA, Food Systems, Nutrition and Health Hometown Yorba Linda, CA Future plans To pursue medicine in environmental and occupational health. “I believe my research helps reduce gaps in fair and equal access for marginalized peoples.” - Aarti Tandon

The Fifth Season project The Fifth Season project is featured on KUOW's Soundside program. See all of the portraits and hear the audio stories here.

All forest fire smoke is bad for people, but not all fires in forests are bad.

Nicole ErrettTwo interdisciplinary teams led by researchers from the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) will study disaster preparedness and noise pollution with