Environmental Health
Track Curriculum 2009-2010
The Environmental Health Track is designed to increase the interest, understanding, and capabilities of medical students in regard to how the environment impacts on human health and to impart basic information about toxicology.
Track Objectives
- Students will learn about how the environment in which people live influence their health
- Students will learn basic principles of toxicology
Track Activities
- Required First-Second Year Activities
- Attend lecture series
- Participate in an Experiential Opportunity in the Summer following first year
- Students must submit a project proposal including scope of work, a timeline, objectives/goals, and the organization/mentor with which the student will be working including contact information.
- After project completion, students are required to submit a 2-4 page paper to include the student’s project scope, the role the student played in the project, how the project changed from the original proposal, and reflections on the experience
- Other Opportunities in First & Second Year
- Required Third & Fourth Year Activities
Track Lecture Series – Topics – Years I & II (attendance is mandatory)
- An Introduction to Environmental Health
- An Introduction to Toxicology
- An Introduction to Children’s Health & the Environment
- Taking an Environmental Health History
- Environmental Health in Hospitals and Physicians’ Offices – Greening Health Care Delivery
- The Impact of Air Pollution on Human Health
- Exposure to Occupational Health Hazards
- Lead Poisoning
- Corporate Deception in Environmental Health & Toxicology
- The Contribution of Poison Control Centers
- Water & Sanitation
- Energy & Environmental Health
- Risk Assessment
- Risk Communication
- Climate Change
- Agriculture and Human Health
- The Mental and Physical Health Impacts of the Built Environment
Summer Programs/Senior Electives
- Internship at the National Capitol Poison Control Center
- Internship at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (Part of the NIH located in Research Triangle Park, NC)
- Internship with the National Children’s Study
- Internship with an environmental non-governmental organization (Environmental Defense, Natural Resources Defense Council, Children’s Environmental Health Network)
- Occupational Health Internship Program
- Internship at the Office of Children’s Health Protection, US EPA
Current Literature (as a course primer)
- Journals
- Environmental Health Perspectives www.ehponline.org
- Texts/Monographs
- Frumkin, H. Environmental Health: From Global to Local. 2007. Jossey-Bass.
*Other educational opportunities and activities to enrich students’ experiences may be added to the curriculum during the program, per the discretion of the Track Director.