Environmental Health: Now Is the Time.
Environmental Health: Now Is the Time
Nothing affects our health more than our environment. Factors like the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, and where we live dictate our environmental exposures and can determine our overall health. Even though everyone is affected by their environment regardless of income or race/ethnicity, income inequality and structural racism subject some communities to far greater environmental health risks than others. And as climate change continues to get worse, it has more of an impact on health.
The Boston University School of Public Health Department of Environmental Health has worked for decades conducting policy-relevant research, collaborating closely with the communities most affected, to help address environmental challenges. Now, faculty, staff, and students are contributing to a better understanding of how environment affects things like your chances of getting COVID-19 or being exposed to air contamination near a hazardous waste site.
The department maximizes its supportive and inclusive work environment to encourage students, staff, and faculty to work together to achieve its common goals.
“We are a community in the truest sense of the word, leaning on one another during challenging times and working together with a shared purpose: to make a difference in the world,” says Jonathan I. Levy, professor and chair of environmental health. “We aim to be a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace and intellectual home for staff, students, faculty, and visitors, representing and reflecting the experiences and concerns of communities facing environmental injustice and environmental health hazards.”
Levy is proud of the fact that Master of Public Health (MPH) program graduates of the department are highly sought after in local, state, and federal public health organizations. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) program graduates have been successful in settings including academia, government, consulting, industry, and NGOs. More broadly, the doctoral program has been central to the mission of the department for many years.
“Our doctoral students have often led the way during key moments in our history, ranging from increased emphasis on interdisciplinary scholarship to advancing our efforts on diversity, equity, and inclusion. I am proud that we have been able to develop and maintain a culture in the department that attracts truly phenomenal students who enrich our culture,” Levy says.
The importance of community engagement and social justice has been a critical emphasis since the founding of the department, chaired over the years by Dave Ozonoff (1977–2003), Bobbie White (2003–2017), and now Levy (2017–present). Levy says the focus on solving problems, rather than just studying them, is central to the department’s mission. That focus informs the research methods and training programs, linking scholarship to public health practice.
“The Department of Environmental Health conducts research on the urgent environmental health challenges of our time, training the next generation of leaders who will be prepared to think, teach, and act to protect environmental health for all,” he says. “We work with and for communities to improve health through the development, translation, and dissemination of knowledge about environmental hazards.”
Some of the key research efforts within the department include the large, multi-site Gulf War Illness Biorepository Network (BBRAIN), projects within a Federal Aviation Administration Center of Excellence focusing on air pollution and noise from aircraft, an environmental health disparities research center that examines topics ranging from air pollution exposure inequality to COVID-19 in Massachusetts, and studies examining the effects of chemical mixtures on health.
“We have developed substantial work over the past decade on the health effects of air pollution and climate change. We have a growing research portfolio related to climate and health, including studies of extreme heat exposures in vulnerable communities, the health benefits of transportation interventions, and the efficacy of municipal heat action plans,” Levy says. Much of this research positions the Department of Environmental Health to be among the national and global leaders in addressing climate change, providing insights on the public health benefits of climate action, particularly among communities of color.
Levy says the department has a lengthy history of community-based environmental health research—one that spans from the first complicated health studies of hazardous waste sites in the 1980’s to participatory research studies in public housing and with community-based organizations in Boston, across New England, and around the globe.
“We have made tremendous progress in understanding occupational exposures and risks, including the contribution of chemicals to Gulf War Illness, heat exposure and chronic kidney disease among workers in Central America, and “take-home” exposures that workers bring to their families,” Levy says. “We also have a long track record of characterizing exposures and health risks to legacy pollutants such as PCBs, and emerging contaminants including flame retardants, plasticizers, and PFAS.”
Levy and the department are committed to training the next generation of public health leaders by emphasizing the skills and knowledge necessary to inform solutions to environmental health challenges.
“We plan to continue to evaluate the complex mixtures of social and environmental stressors faced in many communities, applying a social justice and anti-racist lens to identify sustainable solutions,” he says.