PhD in Environmental Health Sciences

PHD environmental health students will contribute new knowledge in understanding the impact of environmental stressors - physical, chemical, and biological - on human health and comfort. Students are skilled in research, assessment, and evaluation of the impact of environmental stressors; they identify potentially adverse environmental agents, assess their exposures, determine their impact on health, and estimate the consequent risk. Students can develop expertise and conduct independent research in a variety of environmental health-related areas including epidemiology, toxicology, occupational health, respiratory physiology, thermal physiology, exposure assessment, psychophysics, air quality, and risk assessment. Programs of study are planned on an individual basis to provide students with the specialized knowledge required for their selected research area as well as to provide breadth in related areas of epidemiology and public health. Courses are chosen from those available in the department and elsewhere in the University. Students entering the doctoral program typically have a strong background in undergraduate science and frequently have a master's degree in public health. (A master’s degree is not required to apply for this program.)

This program does not accept General GRE test scores.

The Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) doctoral program focuses on how environmental agents – physical, chemical, and biological – affect human health, considered within the general framework of epidemiology and public health. Students will be skilled in research, assessment, and evaluation of the impact of environmental stressors; they will identify potentially adverse environmental agents, assess their exposures, determine their impact on health, and estimate the consequent risk.

Current Graduate Studies Executive Committee (GSEC) EHS representative (2024): Kai Chen, Associate Professor

Year 1

• Coursework (7-8 credits)
• Fall and Spring Rotations (2 credits) followed by seminar presentations
• Complete Preliminary Exam end of Spring semester

Year 2

• Coursework (3-4 credits)
• Complete Fall and Spring Teaching Fellowships
• Submit Specific Aims and Dissertation Advisory Committee (DAC) to GSEC for approval
• Write prospectus and defend by seminar presentation for Qualifying Exam*
• Submit prospectus to GSEC for Admission to Candidacy*

Year 3

• Fall and Spring Teaching Fellowships (if required)
• Work on dissertation

Year 4

• Work on dissertation

Year 5

• Submit readers and submission of dissertation form (Sept and Feb deadlines for Dec/May grad)
• Submit dissertation to readers (Oct and March deadlines for Dec/May grad)
• Public defense of dissertation
• Finish minor editorial revisions by approx. Nov 30th or April 30th

All courses are 1 unit unless otherwise noted.

The PhD degree requires a total of 13 course units. Course substitutions must be identified and approved by the student’s advisor and DGS.

PhD Required Courses (9 course units)

Suggested Electives (must take a minimum of 4)

• BIS 505 Biostatistics in Public Health II
• BIS 623 Advanced Regression Models
• BIS 628 Longitudinal & Multilevel Data Analysis
• CDE 534 Applied Analytic Methods in Epidemiology
• CDE 516 Principles of Epidemiology II
• CDE 520 Case-Based Learning for Genetic and Environmental Diseases
• EHS/CDE 502 Physiology for Public Health
• EHS 511/ENV 893 Principles of Risk Assessment
• EHS 530/ENV 608 Our Air, Our Health
• EHS/EMD 537 Water, Sanitation, and Global Health
• EHS 545 Molecular Epidemiology
• EHS 547 Climate Change and Public Health
• EHS 560/ENV 606 Methods in Climate Change and Health Research – cannot be counted as an elective if taken as a requirement
• EHS/CDE 563 Biomarkers of Exposure, Effect, and Susceptibility in the Epidemiology of Non-Communicable Diseases
• EHS/CDE 566 Causal Inference Methods for Public Health Research – cannot be counted as an elective if taken as a requirement
• EHS 567 Fundamentals of Green Chemistry and Green Engineering
• EHS 568 Introduction to GIS for Public Health
• EHS 569 Advanced GIS Workshop
• EHS 581 Public Health Emergencies: Disaster Planning and Response
• ENV 755 Modeling Geographic Space
• ENV 756 Modeling Geographic Objects

*Students entering the program with an MPH or relevant graduate degree may be exempt from this requirement.

• Critique and evaluate the merit environmental exposure methods.
• Form a hypothesis and synthesize testable aims to tackle an environmental health issue.
• Apply appropriate epidemiological design and statistical methods to analyze the link between environmental exposures and health impacts.

Requirements

Two research rotations during the first academic year in EHS laboratories able to accommodate students are required for each student, one in the fall term and one in the second term. In consultation with the student’s advisor, an additional rotation may be offered during the summer between the first and second years. Research rotations will be available for both “dry” (i.e., statistical analysis) and “wet” (i.e., bench) laboratory research groups. The student will meet with the EHS graduate faculty member at the beginning of the rotation for an explanation of the goals and expectations of a student in the laboratory. The student will become familiar with the research models, approaches, and methods utilized by the research group through interactions with other laboratory/research personnel and from laboratory manuscripts. The student is expected to spend at least fifteen hours per week working in the laboratory or research group and to present a rotation seminar at the end of the rotation period.

Research projects in this department cover a broad range of environmental health research in areas of epidemiology, toxicology, occupational health, respiratory physiology, thermal physiology, exposure assessment, psychophysics, air quality and risk assessment.

Recent Dissertation Projects

• Evaluating Exposure to Unconventional Oil and Gas Development and Childhood Leukemia Risk
• The Effect of Phenols on Reproductive Function and the Urinary Metabolome
• Identifying the Role of Glutathione Biosynthesis in Pancreatic ß Cell Function
• Interplay Between Oxidative Stress and Pax6 in the Development of Microphthalmia
• Ambient Temperature, Humidity, Air Pollution and Renal Disease Risk
• Molecular Mechanisms of Colon Cancer: Interaction Between Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 1B1 and the Wnt Pathway
• Characterization of the Chemical Exposome using Fresh Air Samplers
• Ambient Air Pollution, Gestational Weight Gain and Fetal Growth Trajectories: A Longitudinal Birth Cohort Study