Sustainable Communities

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Our research promotes healthy, sustainable communities

Faculty and students in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences explore environmental justice, One Health, genetic susceptibility to environmental exposures and the ways some people and communities are more vulnerable to those exposures. 

We identify policies and interventions to reduce harmful environmental exposures and improve risk communication, and study the effects of climate change, natural disasters, built environments and environmental policy on population health. 

Our students are actively engaged in our research and trained in the latest scientific methods and core principles of how environmental factors affect the health of people, animals and the planet. 

Research spotlight

Rebecca Kann and Karen Levy stand together smiling wearing purple graduation regalia.

Safeguarding clean drinking water

Rebecca Kann named 2026 DEOHS Outstanding PhD Student for community-engaged research on water, sanitation and climate

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Dennise Drury stands in a hard hat and safety vest in an industrial space with other students around her.

UW ranked fourth in world and second in US for public, environmental and occupational health

Among US public universities, DEOHS programs top US News and World Report’s Best Global Universities list

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Emily Do smiles in front of her research poster.

Beautifying UW and the environment

Emily Do named 2026 DEOHS Outstanding Undergraduate for community leadership and environmental toxicology research

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