Occupational Health

Diana Marquez hopes to become a certified industrial hygienist serving agricultural workers in the Yakima Valley. Photo courtesy of Marquez.

Read the full story in the latest edition of the UW Public Health magazine

Four students in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) were recently awarded scholarships from the American Industrial Hygiene Foundation (AIHF) to support their studies in industrial hygiene.

DEOHS Assistant Professor Sarah Collier

In her free time, Dennise Drury loves playing volleyball, basketball and soccer. She’s just as multifaceted when it comes to public health pursuits.

Without the cooling powers of trees, workers in deforested areas are less productive, according to new research from the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS), The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and other collaborators.

Esther Min, DEOHS research consultant and Front and Centered environmental health lead.

For many farmworkers across Washington state, the risks of working on the front lines during the pandemic have been compounded by an “infodemic.”

In a year like no other, DEOHS faculty, students and staff quickly pivoted to tackle new threats posed by the pandemic. We contributed to Washington state's COVID-19 response, showed the effectiveness of self-sampling for the virus and assessed impacts on essential workers—not to mention our furry friends.

DEOHS Teaching Professor Martin Cohen How do you lead 20 students on a field trip during a pandemic?

Gilbert Omenn and Martha Darling are longtime benefactors of the UW School of Public Health. Photo: Courtesy of Omenn.

Elizabeth Torres with El Proyecto Bienestar.

The UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) has completed a major move into the new Hans Rosling Center for Population Health on the University of Washington campus.

Read the full story, including interactive graphics on the research findings. Learn more

As wildfires burn across the western United States—intensified by warmer, drier conditions caused by climate change—the forest workers who help prevent such fires are more critical than ever.

This summer, I interned at the Department of Occupational Safety & Health in the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. I learned about ensuring the health and safety of employees exposed to different hazards, especially the COVID-19 pandemic.

Right now, some 140,000 agricultural workers are picking apples, peaches and other crops at the peak of Washington’s harvest season, just as Gov. Jay Inslee has declared a state of emergency in response to wildfires burning across the state.

Editor's note: Natalie Peterson is a UW senior completing her BS in Environmental Health. Her JRCOSTEP internship was recently featured by the Indian Health Service on its website.  

Lianne Sheppard fought recent efforts by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to suppress the role of academic scientists advising the agency on environmental policy. The University of Washington professor also battled back against attacks on her research into the link between cancer and glyphosate, a widely used herbicide.

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!

“How can we make our operating room safer during the pandemic?” When Dr. James Hecker, an anesthesiologist at UW Medical Center, heard this question from a fellow physician, he thought about the problem not just as a doctor but also as an engineer.

How many times can a health care worker safely reuse a face mask?

 

Early in his career, Noah Seixas spent six months working on the assembly line of a rifle manufacturer in Massachusetts “to see what life was like on the line in a dirty, crappy factory.”

Alexa Yadama BS, Environmental Health Hometown Pullman, WA Future plans A career in environmental or public health, and eventually a master’s in public health. “ I really appreciate mixing public health with my science background and helping people with the knowledge I have.”

 

Business owners who have weathered pandemic closures face a new challenge as they prepare to reopen—protecting their workers in a landscape altered by the novel coronavirus. Now researchers in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) are teaming up to help them.

Each spring, seasonal farmworkers arrive in the Pacific Northwest for the planting season. This year, they’ve been met with a public health emergency.

Read the news release Workers who pick our fruits and vegetables already face harsh conditions in fields during summer harvest months. Those conditions will worsen significantly over the coming decades.