For more than 100 years, our Department has advanced the field of Environmental Health through hands-on learning and training, and translates evidence-based on research. We have a vibrant and rich history of guiding public discourse, and national and international leaders, on the most pressing environmental health challenges in the twenty-first-century. To better serve communities’ changing health, we employ innovative strategies and solutions to increase public awareness. Our work in laboratories, field studies, and cohort studies has provided the basis of environmental and occupational health on humans. Members of our Department create and advance our knowledge of harmful exposures and translate their discoveries into actions that ultimately improve people’s health. Our centers, faculty, students, and staff engage in service activities to expand the capacity of communities by training, mentoring, and empowering the next world leaders.
The Department of Environmental Health pursues innovative research and offers interdisciplinary training in environmental health, emphasizing the role of air, water, contaminants in food and consumer products, the built environment, and the workplace as critical determinants of public health. Faculty members study the pathogenesis and prevention of environmentally produced illnesses, injury and disability, ergonomics and safety, climate change, occupational hygiene, environmental management and sustainability, and are leaders in, and facilitators of, scientifically based public health advances. Faculty research areas include a multi-disciplinary approach ranging from molecular and physiologic studies, exposure assessment and control, engineering, epidemiology, risk assessment to policy evaluation.
The department examines complex problems that require the contributions of many specialties. The faculty, research staff, and students reflect the multidisciplinary nature of the field and include chemists, engineers, epidemiologists, practitioners, occupational hygienists, urban planners, climatologists, applied mathematicians, physicians, nurses, physiologists, cell biologists, molecular biologists, and microbiologists.
Additional information about the Department of Environmental Health can be found at: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/environmental-health/
To learn about the Department of Environmental Health’s faculty, go to: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/environmental-health/people/faculty/
The Master of Public Health (45 Credits) degree program is offered in Occupational and Environmental Health (OEH). This Field of Study focuses on workplace and environmental hazards, the physiological and biomechanical aspects of work, the risks posed by the interaction of genetic and environmental factors, and a practical approach to solving health problems in various work and community settings. The curriculum for the occupational and environmental health field of study consists of the required MPH public health core curriculum as well as required courses in occupational/environmental health. MPH students in the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Residency (OEMR) must also consult the residency’s requirements (hsph.me/oemr). Students must also complete an approved Applied Practice Experience and an Integrative Learning Experience. Students have some credits available for elective courses, which may be taken at the Harvard Chan School or by cross-registering.
The Master of Public Health (45 Credits) Curriculum Guide is available at: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/environmental-health/wp-content/uploads/sites/60/2023/09/MPH-45-Curriculum-Guide-2023-2024.pdf
Additional information about the Master of Public Health (45 Credits) degree can be found at: Master of Public Health | Office of Education | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
