"As a division of the School of Public Health, we share in the School's mandate to promote and protect the health of human populations. We approach that mandate by focusing on the human health impacts of physical, biological, and chemical agents in the community and workplace. In particular, our interest is the quantitative evaluation of these environmental risks and the means of their control. Environmental health is a truly interdisciplinary field. It draws on virtually all the natural sciences, as well as content from professional areas like engineering, to address the assessment of exposures, mechanisms of biological response, and their interconnections to estimate the health risk arising from environmental contaminants. The field is closely allied to environmental and occupational epidemiology and interfaces with policy analysis. We are committed to creating a culture in which students receive rigorous training for professional careers and/or develop the skills for perspective careers in research. I invite you to explore our website, including the links that more fully describe the variety and activities based in the division."
 
- Katharine Hammond, Chair of the Environmental Health Sciences Division

Significance of Environmental Health Sciences
 
Environmental factors are estimated to be responsible for 25-40% of the burden of human ill-health around the world and often most seriously affect the most vulnerable members of society, such as young children, pregnant women, and the poor.
 
Our Research Focus
 
Much of our work at the Environmental Health Sciences Division is focused on the study of human populations exposed to chemical or biological agents in either the community or occupational environments. Faculty in our group are closely involved with epidemiological studies, often developing biological markers (such as slight changes in DNA) that can serve as indicators of human exposure before full-blown disease results. Many of these studies are done in collaboration with other first-rank research institutions in the USA and around the world. Collaborative research opportunities also exist with world renowned exposure assessment groups in the College of Engineering at Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
 
Our Commitment To Students
 
We are committed to preparing students to become leaders in research or in professional practice. Professionally oriented students learn to assess health impacts of physical, chemical, and biological agents in the environment and workplace and to explore means for their measurement and control. Faculty and research students are engaged in developing a deeper understanding as well as new approaches, in both the laboratory and the field, for the evaluation and control of environmental hazards. During their training both professional and research students have opportunities to apply their academic training to problems in the United States and other parts of the world.
 
Careers
 
<< View the notable alumni page for a list of the current positions of Environmental Health Sciences alumni. >>
 
Excellent career opportunities are available for graduates of the Environmental Health Sciences program, especially for specialists in industrial hygiene and toxicology. Graduates of the Ph.D. program enter positions in academia and in both public and private institutions where research is performed. M.S. and M.P.H. graduates usually work for industry or government.
 
In the last few years, alumni have accepted job offers at organizations as:

• US Environmental Protection Agency (Research Scientist)
• Hewlett Packard (Industrial Hygienist)
• University of Oxford (Postdoctoral Fellow)
• California EPA (Research Scientist)
• Public Service Corporation of Colorado (Environmental Analyst)
• State Compensation Insurance Fund (Industrial Hygienist/Compliance Officer)
• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Director of Clinical Services)
• State Department of Health Services (Health Program Manager)
• Environmental Toxicology Inc. (Toxicologist)
• California Department of Toxic Substances (Chief of Technological Clearing House)
• California Legal Assistance Foundation (Environmental Health Consultant)
• Applied Risk Management (Information Services Manager)
• Bechtel Corporation (Environmental Engineer)

Further Information
 
For further information about the EHS program, contact the EHS Program Coordinator, Norma Firestone, (510) 643-5160 ehs_div@berkeley.edu.