The Environmental Health block of the MPH in Community-Oriented Public
Health Practice is designed to help students understand the environmental public health
system and how it investigates and reduces community risks from agents that cause
disease, injury, and death. The case studies primarily address the recognition of various
hazards in the environmental and occupational setting; the theoretical construct for
understanding the properties of these hazards; the exploration of the factors that can
generate or diminish exposure and reduce disease incidence and severity, especially in
vulnerable populations; and the importance of risk communication in addressing
environmental issues. The cases ensure that students learn about local, state, and
national laws and regulations promulgated to reduce exposure and disease from
environmental factors and also how to mine these standards for gaps and incongruent
policies. They focus on determining causal factors and mitigation approaches as they
explore the politics and pressures of the environmental health challenge. We press
students to search for inequities in exposure and disease risk such as evidence of
institutional racism in high risk communities. This core prepares public health
practitioners to work on community environmental health risks to reach fair resolutions
and reduce adverse health outcomes.
Keywords: Built environments, Causality, Climate change, Environmental
contamination, Environmental epidemiology, Environmental health, Environmental
racism, Executive briefing, Exposure pathway, Exposure potential, Hazard
analysis, Health disparities, Institutional racism, Protection standards, Regulations,
Risk benefit analysis, Risk mitigation, Town hall meeting, Toxicology,
Vulnerable populations.
