Health Equity

Belen Salguero BS, Environmental Health Hometown Morton, WA Future plans A public health career focusing on worker health in marginalized communities

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

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.

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.

Diana Marquez MS, Applied Occupational Hygiene Hometown Grandview, WA Future plans A career with Washington State Department of Labor & Industries “The most meaningful thing has been getting to change workers’ perspectives around the work we do in occupational health and safety.”

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

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

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.

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

DEOHS Assistant Teaching Professor Emily Hovis. Two teams of researchers in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) and their partners have been

Shelley Stephan MS, Occupational Hygiene Hometown Irvine, CA Future plans A career as a research industrial hygienist.

Megumi Matsushita PhD, Environmental Toxicology Hometown Otsu, Japan Future plans A career in public service as a public health scientist “My goal is to use all the knowledge and training that I have accumulated over the years to help inform public health decisions.”

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.

Panel on sustainability in coffee and tea industries Attend a free panel discussion on current developments in the coffee and tea industries focused on creating just and sustainable supply chains that benefit people and the environment. Brewing Sustainability in the Coffee and Tea Industries May 18, 2022, 12:30 - 1:30 pm

Inna Antonchuk MPH, Environmental and Occupational Health Hometown Rivne, Ukraine Future plans Continuing to work as a nurse as well as applying her public health training, perhaps with a government agency “I am very interested in immigrant occupational health but also in public health policy."

Two international research projects co-led by researchers in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) were recently awarded Tier I pilot grants from the UW Population Health Initiative (PHI). The grants support researchers in laying an interdisciplinary foundation for a future project to generate proof of concept.

Apply for the program In the earliest stages of life, our health is particularly vulnerable to environmental contaminants such as particulate matter in air and endocrine disruptors in food, water and household products.

Yoni Rodriguez MS, Occupational Hygiene Hometown Toppenish, WA Future plans Pursuing an MD/PhD in Environmental Health “My next step is to couple public health education with technology that monitors and removes environmental toxins in a safe, efficient and sustainable manner.”

Farmers struggling to adapt to rising temperatures in tropical regions can unleash the benefits of natural cooling, alongside a host of other wins, simply by dotting more trees across their pasturelands. For the first time, a study led by the University of Washington puts tangible numbers to the cooling effects of this practice.

Read the report Tribal communities in Washington state experienced increased food insecurity during the pandemic, according to a new report by researchers at the Northwest Tribal Epidemiology Center (NWTEC), a division of the Northwest Portland

Daaniya Iyaz MS, Environmental Health Hometown Born in Chennai, India; raised in Sammamish, WA, USA Future plans Working in public health in government or consulting.

In 2021, the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) welcomed new faculty, forged collaborations in climate and health, and continued our innovative, community-oriented environmental health research on areas including air pollution, COVID-19 and the far-reaching health impacts of wildfire smoke across Washington state. Explore our top stories below.