School of Public Health

Welcome

Welcome to the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences! Our department has multifaceted goals. We aim to provide graduate education at the masters, doctoral and postdoctoral level, while at the same time engaging in public health practice activities and conducting both basic and applied research. Our faculty is actively engaged in research and teaching on the assessment, control and prevention of environmental and occupational chemical, biological, physical and psychosocial hazards and in better understanding their adverse impacts on human health and safety.

Occupational and environmental health generally involves a multidisciplinary team approach and we therefore work closely and collaboratively with other departments throughout SUNY Downstate Medical Center, in public health, the basic sciences and clinical sciences. Our faculty is also widely engaged in collaborative work with city, state and federal agencies, community organizations, labor unions, and others.

A special focus of our department is the impact of the urban built environment on public health. We view the "built environment" broadly to include proximity to public amenities such as parks and recreation facilities; the availability of healthy sources of food (and unhealthy ones too!); the physical and social environment, including violence and other unsafe conditions. We are interested in environmental toxins like air pollutants and contaminants associated with local health practices and beliefs. Together with the many other departments here at SUNY _Downstate and with community groups, we are developing a geographic information system for Brooklyn that uses state-of-the-art database utilities and mapping software for better understanding risks and rates of disease and for developing programs to improve the health of Brooklyn's citizens.

Other faculty interests include:

• the health and safety of public employees in New York City and State
• reducing environmental and occupational health disparities
• programs for balancing work and family, reducing workplace violence and reducing work stress
• Agent Orange and Vietnam veteran health
• Risks to maternal-fetal health from environmental contaminants

We believe that our Department offers exciting opportunities for training students seeking their MPH and DrPH degrees. The MPH student will develop the competencies needed to identify, assess, and manage environmental and occupational health problems. The DrPH program has an epidemiological focus and prepares a practitioner to use epidemiological approaches for recognizing and assessing environmental and occupational hazards and for developing programs designed to reduce risk and prevent the occurrence of disease and dysfunction.

Sincerely,

Florence Kavaler, MD, MS, MPH
Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences
Associate Dean for Research Administration
School of Public Health