Kim (Lowry) Coble applies her science background to environmental advocacy with the Maryland-based Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Her job is to ensure that the foundation uses sound science to restore and protect the bay. As the only person on staff with a public health background, she is the key link between the environment and human health, and as assistant director, she helps administer and manage the foundation’s Maryland office.

She has been with the foundation for more than a decade and says, “I can honestly say I have never had two days be the same.” She spends a great deal of time trying to influence state legislation (she is a registered lobbyist). She also spends time on the Bay in kayaks and canoes. She talks to citizen groups and international organizations, working specifically in the area of chemical contaminants and nutrients from point and non-point sources. “I am continually challenged by the diversity of the issues that I work on and therefore, am constantly learning new things.”

After graduating from DEH, she managed the Exposure Pathways Study, which assessed the arsenic exposure of the citizens living near the Asarco smelter in Tacoma. After the study was complete, she worked for the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, overseeing its Water and Hazardous Waste section. In 1990, she and husband Joe Coble moved to the East Coast.

She is unequivocal about the role the Department of Environmental Health played in her career. “My experience at DEH gave me the foundation on which I have built my profession. I learned how to use and communicate scientific issues in particular, environmental health issues, in order to protect the environment and human health.”

She was inspired by professors who “made it clear that once you are educated about environmental health issues, you then have a responsibility to be an advocate about those issues.”

She sees ample opportunities in her field. “There is a need for people who understand science and can communicate the issues.” She suggests that graduates contact advocacy groups and private foundations about job possibilities. “While you may not die a millionaire, you will definitely feel as if you are making a difference.”

For more information:
http://www.cbf.org/

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