Pollution

Bob Wilbur thought he’d found a retirement home that would be a place of peace. Nestled against Admiralty Bay on the western edge of Whidbey Island, the three-story house is surrounded by trees and shoreline. It offers the kind of quiet that only an island can provide. Except when the Growlers fly. 

Abbie GilbertMS, Environmental Health SciencesHometownWarrensburg, MOFuture plansPursuing a PhD in DEOHS focusing on infants’ exposure to heavy metals.

A new rule passed by the US Environmental Protection Agency this month will prevent thousands of premature deaths each year. The rule strengthens the national air quality standard for industrial emissions of fine particles, often called soot, as part of the Clean Air Act.

Read the full UW news release

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.

Learn more in our interactive feature: "At every age, cleaner air means better health." It’s not just textbooks and homework woes that unite schoolkids of the sunny Yakima Valley with their counterparts in rainy Seattle’s urban neighborhoods.

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

Despite their invisibly small size, ultrafine particles have become a massive concern for air pollution experts. These tiny pollutants—typically spread through wildfire smoke, vehicle exhaust, industrial emissions and airplane fumes—can bypass some of the body’s built-in defenses, carrying toxins to every organ or burrowing deep in the lungs.

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.

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.

 

 

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.

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

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

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

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.

Everetta Rasyid, a MS student in Applied Toxicology at the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS), recently spoke with us about her experience in the program and her summer internship with HP.

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.

Aaron Bentson-Royal, a MS student in Applied Environmental Toxicology at the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS), recently spoke with us about his experience in the program and his internship this summer at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund and Emergency Management Division.

Although much of what he researches is practically invisible to the eye—air pollution particles 30 to 700 times thinner than a strand of human hair—UW Professor Tim Larson’s contributions to the field of environmental engineering can be easily seen.

Air pollution is not just a problem for lungs. Increasingly, research suggests air pollution can influence childhood behavioral problems and even IQ. A new study led by UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) researchers has added evidence showing that both prenatal and postnatal exposure to air pollution can harm kids.

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.

PhD graduate Megumi Matsushita (left) with Professor Zhengui Xia. For her extraordinary

Tiny pollution particles can cause major health problems. Our research shows how to minimize your risk.

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

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