MPH Functional Certificate: Environmental Health and Justice

The environment, including drinking water, air, food, and housing quality, is a core determinant of population health. Health impacts associated with environmental hazards such as climate change, air pollution, lack of sanitation, and chemical exposures are often inequitably distributed, with socioeconomically vulnerable communities most at risk. Mitigating the causes and sources of environmental pollution—through data, policy, and advocacy—as well as the subsequent injustices caused by multigenerational inequitable exposure is central to the work of environmental health scientists and activists in the 21st century.  

In this 16-unit certificate program, students will develop action-oriented, real-world skills to reduce environmental exposures and address environmental injustice and related health inequity during their careers. Students will hone skills in data analysis and visualization, data collection and assessment, and designing strategies for policy analysis and equity-informed practice. Students can select courses that best fit their interest areas and career trajectory, through course pathways that emphasize analytical and advocacy tools to help address the health effects of climate change, chemical exposure, or other stressors faced by communities. From the foundational certificate course to the ILE (Integrative Learning Experience), students will develop a portfolio of professional products to share with prospective employers, including policy memos, media strategies, a podcast, GIS maps, and materials for a community meeting. 

Upon graduation, students will be able to:

• Assess the characteristics, exposure pathways, and health risks of major environmental hazards through analysis of environmental health data.
• Design strategies to collect and interpret data about environmental exposures.
• Evaluate factors influencing environmental health risk assessment and policy.
• Translate epidemiological data in the environmental health literature for diverse audiences through oral and written presentation.
• Formulate intervention or prevention strategies that reduce exposure to environmental hazards.

Course Requirements

• SPH EH 731 Environmental Health and Justice: Essential Skills for Effective Action (4 units)

4 units of the following applied data analysis courses: 

• SPH BS 723 Introduction to Statistical Applications in SAS (4 units)
• SPH BS 730 Introduction to Statistical Applications in R (4 units)
• SPH EH 811 Introduction to GIS for Public Health (4 units)
• SPH EH 851 Advanced GIS for Public Health and Climate Research (4 units)
• SPH EH 866 Risk Assessment Methods (4 units)
• SPH GH 854 From Data to Dashboards: Building Excel Skills to Support Health Program Decisions (2 units)
• SPH PH 737 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Public Health Decisionmaking (2 units)

4 units of the following environmental health assessment courses:

• SPH EH 705 Environmental Toxicology (2 units)
• SPH EH 707 Physiology for Public Health (2 units)
• SPH EH 727 Incorporating Health to Design Healthy and Sustainable Climate Solutions (4 units)
• SPH EH 757 Environmental Epidemiology (4 units)
• SPH EH 804 Field Methods in Exposure Science (4 units)

4 units of the following equity-informed environmental health policy and practice courses:

• SPH EH 720 Climate Change and Public Health (4 units)
• SPH EH 722 Climate Change and Health Equity (4 units)
• SPH EH 745 Wastewater and Health/Sustainable Sanitation (2 units)
• SPH EH 805 Environmental Health Science, Policy, and Law (4 units)
• SPH PH 803 Community-Based Participatory Research: Theory and Methods (2 units)
• SPH SB 860 Strategies for Public Health Advocacy (4 units)

Integrative Learning Experience

The ILE will consist of preparation and participation in a mock public hearing or community meeting, with engagement from faculty, staff, and students across the department. Students will be assigned a stakeholder role within a designated scenario in which parties are debating the nature, risks, and equity implications associated with an environmental hazard.  Students will have two individual-level assessments for the ILE: 1) a written position statement which assesses the environmental health problem from a structured environmental health framework, provides an assessment of the literature and provided data, as well as appropriate visualization and messaging, and details the positions of the assigned stakeholder as well as other stakeholders; and 2) participation in the event, which will include a short group presentation and a facilitated discussion.