Drs Gina Solomon and Sarah Janssen of SFPSR to Teach Environment and Health Course at UCSF. Auditors Welcome
Environment and Health
Winter 2009; Wednesdays 5:00-7:00 PM
Room: Toland Hall (UC Hall, Room U-142, UCSF Parnassus)
1 unit (5 sessions) through M170C Department of Medicine
OR
2 units (10 sessions) through N248 School of Nursing
Auditors Welcome
Faculty of Record:
Gina Solomon, MD, MPH, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine gina.solomon@ucsf.edu
Barbara Burgel, RN, PhD, FAAN, Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing Program: Barbara.burgel@nursing.ucsf.edu or
Grading: Pass/Fail
Course Description:
This interdisciplinary course will introduce a broad range of environmental health topics affecting health status. Exposure assessment, risk communication, prevention strategies, and environmental health policies will be covered with special attention to childbearing families, children and communities at risk for environmental injustice. Directed readings in environmental health and critical thinking skills are emphasized.
Objectives:
1) Explore the environmental factors that potentially adversely affect the health of people in the community, home, and work environments.
2) Determine the chemical and biological mechanisms involved in environmental exposures, leading to adverse health outcomes.
3) Recognize adverse health effects due to environmental exposures through a comprehensive environmental health history.
4) Identify populations at risk for environmental exposures, including childbearing families, children, and communities at risk for environmental injustice.
5) Outline strategies to mitigate environmental exposure for individuals and communities.
6) Analyze public policies, including standards and regulations, which serve to safeguard the health of individuals and communities from environmental exposures.
Recommended readins will be provided for each week, and posted on the Collaborative Learning Environment (CLE) Course Website
Student Expectations:
1. Active engagement in environmental health topics, to include completion of course assignments/readings prior to class, active debate and dialogue, and application of content, when applicable, in clinical work.
2. Sign in to each class session.
3. Register on CLE to gain access to readings, case studies, etc.
4. For those taking 1 unit course: attendance of five sessions of your choice;
5. For those taking 2 unit course: complete an annotated bibliography of 5 articles on an environmental topic of your choice. Focus on exposure definition, how exposure was measured, sensitivity of outcome and how measured, and how study results, if significant could be used for environmental policy. Due no later than March 11, 2009 to Barbara Burgel.
6. Optional Tour at end of quarter—space limited, sign up required.
Schedule
January 7, 2009: Course Introduction: Environmental Health from Global to Local
Scope of the problem /Current challenges and solutions
Understanding toxicology and risk assessment
Taking an Environmental Health History
Case Studies
[Faculty: Burgel, Solomon]
January 14, 2009: Overview of Environmental Health and Pediatrics
Risks to children, pregnant women, and other vulnerable groups
Pediatric Toolkit for EH Issues
[Faculty: Miller, Janssen, Duderstadt]
January 21, 2009: Exposure Assessment
Challenges of exposure assessment
Biologic monitoring —how to evaluate/interpret results
CDC and California biomonitoring programs
Risk communication challenges
[Faculty: Solomon, Roisman]
January 28, 2009: Global Occupational and Environmental Health
Climate Change
International occupational health
[Faculty: Smith, LaDou]
February 4, 2009: International EH case studies:
Water quality in Chile
Air quality in Guatemala
[Faculty: Steinmaus, Thompson]
February 11, 2009: California Air Quality: Policy and Regulatory Challenges
[Faculty: Balmes]
February 18, 2009 California Health and Policy Challenges and Victories
Endocrine disrupting chemicals in toys
Cosmetics, flame retardants, etc.
[Faculty: Janssen, Rizzo]
February 25, 2009 Local: Mercury in fish – Health risks and education needs.
[Faculty: Segovia-Bain, Ablog, Solomon]
March 4, 2009: Local: Indoor Air Quality
Tools for Schools
[Faculty: Chan, Miller]
March 11, 2009: Preparing for climate change in the Bay Area
Sea level rise, heat waves, storms, infectious disease
What health care providers can do
[Faculty: Solomon, Duderstadt]
Gina M. Solomon, M.D., M.P.H. is an associate clinical professor in the division of occupational and environmental medicine at UCSF and the associate director of the UCSF Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit. She is a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a national nonprofit environmental advocacy organization. She is also Vice-President of San Francisco Bay Area Physicians for Social Responsibility. Dr. Solomon was involved in the environmental health assessment of New Orleans after Katrina.
Barbara Burgel, R.N., ANP, PhD, FAAN is a clinical professor in the Department of Community Health Systems at UCSF, in occupational and environmental health nursing. She was co-founder of the Community Occupational Health Project, focusing on low-wage worker health and safety in Alameda County, an initiative funded by the California Wellness Foundation from 2000-2006.
Sarah Janssen, M.D., Ph.D. is an assistant clinical professor in the division of occupational and environmental medicine at UCSF and a science fellow at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Dr. Janssen is also a reproductive biologist with expertise in the topic of endocrine disruption.
Mark Miller, M.D., M.P.H. is an assistant clinical professor in the division of occupational and environmental medicine at UCSF and is the director of the UCSF Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit. He is also a scientist at the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.
Karen Duderstadt, RN, PNP, PhD is a clinical professor in family health care nursing department at UCSF, in the advanced practice pediatric nursing. Dr. Duderstadt has interests in pediatric environmental health and adverse health effects from climate change, amongst other topics.
Rachel Roisman, MD is a public health medical officer with the California Environmental Protection Agency, and is currently a member of the California Environmental Contaminant Biomonitoring Program.
Joe Ladou, MD, is a professor emeritus from UCSF, who has been director of the International Center for Occupational Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco since 1992. Dr. LaDou’s study of the global migration of hazardous industries has led to efforts to control occupational and environmental hazards. Dr. LaDou is the editor of Current Occupational and Environmental Medicine, currently in its 4th edition.
Kirk Smith, PhD is professor of global environmental health at UC Berkeley, is chair of the graduate group in environmental health sciences, and coordinator of the graduate program in health, environment and development in the School of Public Health. Dr. Smith serves on a number of national and international scientific advisory and editorial boards including the Executive Committees for the Global Energy Assessment and the Global Air Quality Guidelines.
Craig Stienmaus, MD, MPH is assistant adjunct professor at UC Berkeley school of public health, with research focused on arsenic in drinking water and perchlorate.
Lisa Thompson, RN, FNP, PhD is assistant professor in family health care nursing department at UCSF, in the family nurse practitioner program. Dr. Thompson brings her expertise exploring adverse health effects in children from indoor air pollution arising from cookstoves in homes in Guatemala.
John Balmes, MD, MPH is professor at UCSF division of occupational and environmental medicine, and the school of public health at UC Berkeley. Dr. Balmes is the Director of the Northern California Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, and a recent appointee to the California Air Resources Board.
Rossana Segovia-Bain. RN, MS, OHNP is assistant clinical professor in the department of community health systems, in the occupational and environmental health nursing program. Rossana is providing technical support to the Safe Fishing Project, in collaboration with Literacy for Environmental Justice(LEJ), in the Bayview-Hunter’s Point neighborhood of San Francisco.
Jeanne Rizzo, RN, is executive director for the Breast Cancer Prevention Fund, which focuses on identifying the environmental causes of breast cancer and preventing the disease. BCPF has two prominent campaigns to remove pthalates in children’s toys, and to remove carcinogens in personal care products, specifically cosmetics.
Myla Ablog is the ecologist with LEJ, coordinating the Safe Fishing Project, amongst other environmental and ecologic projects.
Jackie Chan, MPH is an industrial hygienist working with the San Francisco Unified School District on indoor air quality.
