Partnership is the theme of our third biennial report, and the first report issued under our new name, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences. This theme is reflected in our choice of cover art, a selection from the well-known fresco panels painted by Diego Rivera in 1932 on the walls of a court inside the Detroit Institute of Arts. The mural depicts the vital and exuberant teaming of worker with coworker, and human with machine in a hopeful vision of the possibilities of the industrial age. Our current sensibilities are much more cautious, reflec-ting awareness of the hazards, as well as the benefits, of modern technology.

Consider the close relationship between environmental and occupational issues. The past decade has seen a blurring of the line dividing these categories, as conditions in workplaces and in homes and communities have become more similar. Examples of hazards affecting both workers and community members are found in this report, such as pesticide and noise exposures.

It no longer goes without saying that we emphasize workplace issues along with those based in community settings. By adding “occupational health” to our name we make explicit our department’s historical focus and commitment to workplace safety and health. Our name change conveys an important message.

It acknowledges that, while most people are familiar with a wide range of environmental issues, they may be unfamiliar with the term “environ-mental health.” Incorporating “sciences” into our name clarifies that the life sciences and physical sciences are defining characteristics of our department and that our primary approaches are scientific. We hope that our new name better conveys our identity as a department.

Another name change came when we dropped “Technology” from the graduate program in Environmental Health. This change reflects the broader range of legal and social issues facing this field.

With these name changes, we challenge ourselves to better communicate with the world at large, and with our counterparts in Washington business, labor, government, and academia.

CONTINUING ACHIEVEMENTS

Our academic programs continue to thrive. In 2002, our training and research funding from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) was renewed. This will allow the NIOSH-funded Northwest Center for Occupational Safety and Health to continue to provide financial support for graduate education, educational outreach including continuing education of safety and health professionals, and hazardous substances training.

We have continued our annual career day, which provides the opportunity for our students to talk with alumni and friends of our department about career options, and student research day, which celebrates the accomplishments of our graduate student researchers with featured talks, poster session, and a reception.

FACTS AND FIGURES

Fueled by research grants, our overall budget was up slightly more than 12% from the 1999–2001 total, continuing the steady growth of the past decade. When combined with funds derived from indirect costs on grants, federal sources of departmental support account for about two thirds of our total operations, up from about half in 1993–1995 (see figure 1). We also obtained more private and miscellaneous support, accounting for 12% of our budget in the most recent biennium. Since 1999, state support has been essentially level, except for about 2% growth to cover scheduled salary increases. This includes funding from the University and the Washington state industrial insurance system (Medical Aid and Accident funds).

The ability to combine state and federal resources to fund our interrelated teaching, research, and service missions is essential to the success of our department. These resources help us educate the next generation of leaders in occupational and environmental health, such as those alumni profiled in this report. These combined funds pay for faculty to mentor students in the classroom, the laboratory, and the field; and support the staff involved in recruitment, admissions, and advising (see figure 2). For example, the cost of tuition, fees, stipends and assistantships for our graduate students is spread among faculty research grants, program training, and state funds.

Another example is our ability to conduct research on safety and health problems in Washington. Projects may begin with a federal research grant, as was the case with the studies on noise in construction described here. In addition to publishing scientific papers on their research findings, our researchers used state funds to translate that information into booklets targeted to each of the trades studied. Much of this work is accomplished with Medical Aid and Accident funds. Conversely, some of our projects begin as an employer consultation request supported by our state funds, such as one on silica exposure that became the basis for a federal grant to study the problem in greater depth.

NEW EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES

During the biennium, our department’s undergraduate program, leading to a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Health, was signi-ficantly restructured. Redefined core requirements allow additional flexibility in selection of courses. The program saw its enrollment double in 2002–2003, primarily as a result of broadened faculty involvement and additional staff support. This trend, if continued, should assure public agencies and private companies in the state a continuing source of needed environmental health specialists.

We started a program called Puget Sound Occupational and Environmental Medicine Grand Rounds. This is a series of dinner meetings with an occupational medicine speaker, cosponsored with the Northwest Association for Occupational and Environmental Medicine. This series provides an opportunity for the region’s occupational and environmental medicine practitioners to talk about developments in their field.

Another initiative was the concurrent master’s degree program with the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs. This program will train professionals who can understand both the science and policy sides of an issue. The concurrent degrees will allow students to expand their knowledge in each area of study while they develop a specialty. Students will be able to complete a Master of Public Affairs (MPA) and a Master of Science (MS) or Master of Public Health (MPH) in three years, rather than the four that would be necessary if the degrees were earned separately. The first concurrent degree student was accepted in autumn 2002.

Our department has created a second MPH degree, which will address general principles of environmental health, with more emphasis on applications and policy implications than our more research-oriented Master of Science degree. The new degree provides real-world experience through 120 hours of practicum and offers a choice between writing a thesis or completing a program project. This two-year program admitted its first class in autumn 2002. Until now, our department’s only MPH option required a doctoral degree and had the greatest appeal to physicians in the Occupational and Environmental Medicine residency program. The new MPH option is open to applicants with relevant undergraduate degrees.

We are collaborating with the School of Public Health’s Department of Health Services on a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) program in occupational health services research. Core faculty comes from bothdepartments, with students taking four courses in our department and receiving their degree from Health Services. Students conduct research projects on occu-pational health care delivered through the workers’ compensation system, working with our department’s Occupational Epidemiology and Health Outcomes program. They also have opportunities to conduct field-based studies with local agencies and companies.

Our PhD program in Environmental and Occupational Hygiene (formerly known as Industrial Hygiene and Safety) has been revised to apply to both industrial and nonindustrial settings. This change acknowledges the lessening of distinctions between workplace and community environmental health issues.

FACULTY

Faculty continue to serve in leadership roles in their fields. Professor David Eaton completed a term as president of the Society for Toxicology. Associate Professor John Kissel was president of the Interna-tional Society for Exposure Analysis (ISEA), a group that also awarded Associate Professor Sally Liu the Joan Daisey Award for outstanding contributions by a young scientist to the study of exposure analysis. Professor Michael Morgan was announced as the first editor-in-chief of the new Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, a new publication founded by the two leading industrial hygiene professional groups to replace their previously separate journals.

There were several changes in our faculty. Sally Liu and Zhengui Xia were promoted to associate professor. Terry Kavanagh, Noah Seixas, and Michael Yost were promoted to full professor. Kavanagh also became director of the Toxicology program, replacing Professor Curt Omiecinski, who left for a position at Penn State University. Assistant Professor Mansour Samadpour and Associate Professor Drew Brodkin left our department to take positions in the private sector. Added to our faculty were two new assistant professors: Scott Meschke in the Environmental Health program and Chris Simpson in the Industrial Hygiene and Safety program. Matt Keifer, who now has a primary appointment as associate professor in our department, has accepted the position of graduate program coordinator.

One of several key staff changes was the departure of Jean Garber as department administrator to become the administrator of the School of Dentistry, and the addition of Adrienne Hidy as administrator.

RESEARCH

Our department and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center are part of a new, federally funded, $37 million research consortium to study how genetic makeup affects an individual’s response to various environmental agents. Such research will help answer puzzling questions such as why some people who have never smoked develop lung cancer, while others who have smoked heavily never show signs of the disease.

This new Toxicogenomics Consortium, a research collective involving academic institutions nation-wide, is funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). Researchers will use the tools of genomics to under-stand the mechanisms of environ-mentally induced disease processes. One goal is to develop techniques for using and analyzing microarrays, “gene chips” that can analyze hundreds or thousands of genes simultaneously.

We continue to be awarded multi-investigator programs and centers. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funded the Northwest Center for Particulate Air Pollution and Health—one of five in the country—which conducts research to better understand the relationship between air quality and public health.

The Fogarty grant from the National Institutes of Health, which sponsors training for occupational medicine and environmental health leaders from less developed nations, was successfully renewed, as was the NIOSH center for agricultural safety and health.

STUDENTS

During the past two years, students received 12 under-graduate degrees, 26 MS degrees, four MPH degrees, and four PhDs. Outstanding graduate student awards went to Chang-Fu Wu in 2002 and Kai Elgethun in 2003. Many other students received honors, which are summarized here.

GRADUATES

Our success is measured in part by the achievements of our graduates, some of whom are featured in this report. A survey of our graduate student alumni (see figure 3) shows almost all of them working in their fields of speciality.

LOOKING AHEAD

We are moving ahead to meet new challenges in the environmental and occupational health sciences, some of which are discussed by professors Michael Morgan and Elaine Faustman here. We are developing and using monitoring instruments that are small and portable, enabling us to assess exposures at low doses, or on active children (additional details here). We have new biological monitoring methods that allow us to determine health effects from exposures sooner and at lower doses than ever before. Advances in genomics allow us to understand better how environmental and occupational exposures affect the health of individuals and populations at a molecular level and permit us to identify susceptible populations.

As we advance the frontiers of science with these new technologies, we must continue to assure that our work furthers the public’s health. As Professor Morgan points out, practicing and teaching good science is only one part of our job. We also have a special responsibility to gain and keep the public trust. This involves communicating with all sides of often-contentious issues and making our research understandable and useful to those we serve. We believe that combining the goals of sound science and excellence in teaching with our state service mission benefits the research community, our students, and our community partners.

—Dave Kalman, Chair

The past decade has
seen a blurring of
the line between environmental issues
and occupational
issues, as conditions
in workplaces
and in homes
and communities
have become
more similar

We partner with companies such as Todd Pacific Shipyards. Left to right are graduate students Wenjie Zhu and NaTasha Johnson, todd's Ron Sykes, and faculty member Janice Camp. Rick Gleason

Figure 1. Funding trends, 1993-2003

Figure 2. Budget distribution by activity, 2001-2003 biennium

Figure 3. Where our graduate alumni work