Environmental Justice

Maria Blancas, a UW PhD student and staff member in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS), will receive the 2019 Bullitt Environmental Prize for her work with immigrant farmworkers in Washington.

Washington is on the road to 100 percent clean energy with the passage of a new law championed by Gov. Jay Inslee that sets targets for achieving zero-carbon electricity by 2045. DEOHS Chair Michael Yost

J.C. Harris lives on a cul-de-sac directly in the flight path of Sea-Tac International Airport’s third runway. For Harris, a University of Washington study analyzing air traffic’s impact on air quality in communities near and below Sea-Tac flight paths is far from academic.

It was at the height of California’s worst drought on record that Esther Min saw for herself the power of data to help low-income families. “People’s water bills were skyrocketing, wells were drying up, families were driving miles away to buy bottled water,” said Min, who was working on a water-access study in the Salinas Valley in 2014.

What exactly is environmental justice, and how can we advance it through the law in Washington and beyond?

Climate change in Washington state affects us all—but not all of us in the same way. Your job, your zip code and your race are more likely to determine your level of risk from climate change than the frequency or magnitude of events associated with climate change like heat waves, wildfires and drought.

Vanessa Galaviz, lecturer in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS), is being recognized by the American Public Health Association (APHA) as an emerging leader in environmental health.

At the Western Hemisphere’s busiest land border crossing, tens of thousands of vehicles wait each day, engines idling, to cross between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. Researchers know that the 30,000 residents of San Ysidro, on the US side of the crossing, live with spikes in air pollution, higher levels of asthma and other negative effects from those car emissions.

Rob received a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1986. Rob's interest's moved from cancer research to toxicology and, in 1993, he received a Master of Science degree from the Department of Environmental Health at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Rob received a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1986. Rob's interest's moved from cancer research to toxicology and, in 1993, he received a Master of Science degree from the Department of Environmental Health at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Dr. Patricia Cirone retired from the U.S. Environmental Protection, Region 10 (USEPA) in 2006 where she served as the Chief of the Risk Evaluation Unit for over 20 years. Since retiring Dr. Cirone has been an Affiliate Professor at the University of Washington, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences and a consultant with Ridolfi, Inc.

Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Adjunct Associate Professor within the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington. Her research interests focus on exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals including phthalates and bisphenol A and their impact on reproductive development. Dr.

Alison Cullen joined the Evans School faculty at University of Washington in 1995. Her research involves the analysis of risks to human health and the environment, decision making in the face of risks which are uncertain or vary across populations, and the application of value of information and distributional techniques. 

The general area of my teaching and research involves the applied aspects of Environmental Health Practice, i.e., how the principles and concepts of EH are actually practiced in the field, especially in local, state, tribal and federal EH agencies.

Howard Frumkin is Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington School of Public Health, where he served as Dean from 2010-2016. He is an internist, environmental and occupational medicine specialist, and epidemiologist, who has worked in academia and public service. From 2005 to 2010 he held leadership roles at the U.S.