The PhD in environmental and occupational health provides a broad theoretical and practical education for individuals who desire positions in academic, industrial, or government laboratories in the multifaceted discipline of environmental health sciences. The program combines training in classical toxicological and environmental biophysics with the new and continually developing fields of cellular and molecular pathobiology of environmental disease. Training is geared toward an understanding of how relevant environmental exposures, laboratory based model systems, and gene-environment responses can be interpreted and applied to the study of disease etiology in exposed and potentially exposed human populations.
Recent Dissertation Titles
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Competencies
Graduates will be able to...
- Acquire a basic theoretical background in cellular, molecular and genetic etiology and pathophysiology of environmental disease and disease susceptibility
- Identify and explain effective methodologies to evaluate the direct and indirect human, ecological and safety effects of major environmental and occupational hazards
- Identify and apply methodologies for assessing environmental exposure pathways
- Integrate critical reading of scientific literature to develop and communicate testable hypotheses and ethical hypothesis-driven experimental research designs
- Integrate and apply basic understanding of exposure pathways and molecular mechanisms of action to investigate hypotheses that address the environmental basis of human disease, as well as interventions that reduce disease burden
Requirements
- 72 credits, about half coursework and half research
- Coursework in toxicology, pathophysiology, and other fundamentals
- Coursework in biostatistics, epidemiology, and public health
- Advanced coursework in the student’s specialty area
- Advanced dissertation research in an area of specialization
Full program information: