Environmental Health Courses

EH 500 is a survey course designed to introduce public health students to basic concepts of environmental sciences, to the methods used to study the interface of health and the environment, to the health impacts of various environmental processes and exposures, and to the public health approach to controlling or eliminating environmental health risks. To address these concepts, basic environmental health principles (exposure assessment, environmental toxicology, environmental epidemiology, risk assessment), as well as specific environmental health issues including water and air pollution, hazardous chemical/waste exposures, climate change, and environmental drivers of disease ecology, will be covered.

EH department students only. Required foundation course for students in all master's programs administered by Department of Environmental Health. Introduces students to major topics in environmental health, including mechanisms of toxicity, pesticides and other chemicals, children's health, WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene), infectious disease, air pollution, climate change, and planetary health. Describes tools used to understand these EH topics, such as exposure science, epidemiology, toxicology, biomarkers/omics, risk assessment, implementation science, and policy.

Foundations of Exposure Science (Spring)

In this course, students will be introduced to the concepts of exposure science. Students will learn how contaminants are transported from sources to receptors and how human receptors are affected by such contact. Varying exposure science approaches, across a range of environmental media, including air, water, soil, and internal biological matrices, will be considered. Methods of assessment including direct monitoring of environmental media, modeling, as well as biomarkers of exposure will be presented and discussed in detail. Students will examine the literature of exposure science through readings, in-class article discussions, and by conducting a collaborative exposure assessment.

Air Quality in the Urban Environment: A Survey of Research Methods and Recent Findings (Spring)

The link between the air we breathe and human health affects millions globally, placing urban air quality as a leading contributor to the global burden of disease. This course examines ways to characterize urban air pollution as well as its public health implications based on recent clinical, epidemiological, and toxicological research. The course will be highly interactive and will provide instruction on conducting basic, applied air quality research in academic, governmental, and grassroots settings.

Human Toxicology (Fall)

Prerequisites: college-level biology and chemistry or instructor's permission. The goal of this course is to introduce the student to the basic principles of toxicology. Humans are exposed to a variety of dangerous substances through occupational and environmental exposures. In order to interpret the public health implications of these exposures one must have a good understanding of how these compounds get into the body, how they are processed in the body, and how they damage particular organ systems. To accomplish this, students will gain practical knowledge of the workings of specific organ systems and will be able to identify particular environmental chemicals and their mechanisms of action that underlie organ toxicity. This information will be conveyed through lecture material and reinforced by relevant readings, in-class discussion, and additional assignments that are focused on ensuring that the toxicological topics are further evaluated and considered in the context of current environmental and human health concerns and do not simply exist as standalone facts.

Neurotoxicology (Spring)

Prerequisite: EH 520 or instructor¿s permission. This course is focused on understanding and evaluating the targets, molecular mechanisms, and physiological effects of specific environmental chemicals on the nervous system. This knowledge will be supplemented through outside readings and class discussions that serve to support the students¿ understanding of the material and provide them with a real-world perspective of neurotoxicology. 

Risk Assessment (Fall)

Surveys the general principles and practices of environmental health risk assessment for toxic exposures in the environment and interactions with other factors contributing to human health risks. A variety of case studies will be used to demonstrate the basic methods and results of risk assessment, including estimation/evaluation of potential risk based on empirical evidence (e.g., laboratory animal studies, epidemiological studies), hazard and dose-response assessment for regulatory decisions, and uncertainty analysis and risk communication. Students will be introduced to and use key tools used in quantitative risk assessment.

Biomarkers and
Environmental Public Health (Spring)

This course presents the fundamental concepts of biomarkers of exposure to environmental chemicals including relevant clinical markers (e.g., inflammation or injury markers). The course introduces students to both quantitative and qualitative biomarker measurements and presents and interpretive framework for using biomarker data.  Students will develop proficiency in applying the principles of exposure science to characterize and quantify environmental exposures.

Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology (Spring)

Prerequisites: EH Department student, EPI 530 and BIOS 500. Students will gain experience reading, evaluating, and interpreting epidemiologic studies on the impact of both workplace and environmental exposures, and thinking through practical considerations. The course aims to strengthen each student¿s ability to read epidemiological literature critically. This aim will be realized through in-depth exploration of major study designs including cross-sectional studies, cohort studies, and case-control studies; and through the weekly readings and case studies. Although some data analysis is required, the focus of the class is on conceptual issues common in environmental and occupational epidemiology research and on the interpretation of findings. Successful completion of the course will also contribute to a richer appreciation of how the environment affects public health.

Explores principles, policies, and practices related to sustainability. The course will cover the general approach to sustainability from environmental, social, and economic perspectives. Lectures will also cover specific sustainability related topics, including energy, water, waste, transportation, food, buildings, greenspace, land use, community revitalization, behavior change, purchasing, and curriculum development. The focus of our work together will be to analyze the role of the public health professional in shaping sustainability policy and furthering sustainability practices. The class will complete a group project to develop a comprehensive plan to address a sustainability-related issue. The course is an elective seminar without prerequisites.

Research Methods for Studies of Water and Health (Spring)

Recommended Prerequisite: GH 529 Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries or equivalent. This hands-on course covers methods needed to carry out field studies focused on water and health. Through lecture and laboratory exercises, students will learn critical skills in measuring water quality exposure assessment and waterborne disease health outcomes that will enable them to conduct their own field studies and analyze the resulting data. The focus will be on issues of microbiological contamination in developing countries, but chemical contamination and domestic cases will also be covered.

Environmental Health Law and Policy (Spring)

This course introduces students to the major laws, regulations, and policies applicable to environmental health, primarily in the United States. Readings, discussions, and expert guest speakers are designed to explore the history, politics, economics, and ethics of environmental health policy, including issues around environmental justice. Case studies, in-class activities and policy analysis assignments will emphasize practical skills in policy development and promotion while exposing students to the challenges of advancing evidence-based environmental health policy in the context of competing political perspectives and priorities.

Global Environmental Health Policy: Power, Science & Justice (Spring)

This seminar encourages students to explore the forces that influence the development of environmental health policy, particularly in low-income countries. Using a case-study approach that draws on the instructor's experience in international water and sanitation, the course examines the actors, their agendas and strategies, and the political, social, legal and economic systems in which they operate. Special emphasis is given to the role of research and scientific evidence in environmental health policymaking. Readings, discussion and occasional guest speakers also explore issues of equity and environmental justice.

Injury Prevention and Control (Fall)

This course in injury prevention and control is designed to introduce public health students to basic concepts of injury prevention and control, to the statistics, surveillance and epidemiology of various types of injury, and to the public health approach to controlling or eliminating injuries using concepts of engineering, enforcement, and education (policy, environmental modification and behavior modification). This class features content experts from CDC and other local agencies as well as student-generated case studies.

Public Health Consequences of Disasters (Fall)

This course considers public health aspects of preparedness and management of natural and man-made disasters, including hurricanes, floods, and biosecurity threats, with an emphasis on understanding their complexity and impact. The course is taught using texts, peer-reviewed articles, and presentations by top field experts. The course is designed to stimulate understanding and to encourage an exchange of ideas regarding lessons learned from the past and the implications for current and future polices and disaster planning.

Global Climate Change:
Health Impacts and Response (Fall)

This course will explore the public health impacts of global climate change, the responses undertaken by the health sector to become more resilient to those impacts, and potential mitigation efforts and activities. Public health responses will cover examples from around the world, and include issues around risk communication and implementation of the adaptation strategies. It will provide a practical approach to conducting vulnerability and risk assessments, and students will be introduced to a range of skills to assess and respond to climate-related health impacts. 

Spatial Analysis in Disease Ecology (Spring)

Prerequisites: at least one GIS class (INFO 530 or ENVS 250); statistics is also recommended. This course covers patterns of health and disease in place and time; application of geospatial technologies and methods for epidemiology; analysis of time- space relations; clusters and diffusion of disease; and geographical epidemiology of selected infectious and noninfectious diseases.

Built Environment and Public Health (Fall)

This interdisciplinary course examines how cities and neighborhoods can have both positive and adverse effects on human health and produces recommendations to improve these outcomes. This seminar is an elective planning and public health course that explores the interconnections between these fields and equips students with skills and experiences to plan healthy communities. This course covers planning and public health foundations, natural and built environments, vulnerable populations and health equity, and health policy and global impacts. This course is offered in conjunction with Emory¿s Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health and the Georgia Tech City and Regional Planning program and brings together students from both programs and perspectives. When offered in person, half of the course may take place at Georgia Tech; allow for travel time.

Advanced Seminar in Climate Change and Health: Research and Policy (Spring)

Introduction to Satellite Remote Sensing of the Environment and its Applications to Public Health (Spring)

Prerequisites: at least one GIS class (INFO 530) or equivalent.  Geospatial information collected from satellite remote sensing has become a powerful tool in environmental and public health science and policy making. However, public health researchers usually lack training to benefit from this rapidly evolving technology. This computer lab-based course provides students with the theoretical basis and refined understanding of satellite remote sensing technologies, and tools for geospatial data analysis. Students will learn (1) the history, terminology and data structure of both land and atmospheric remote sensing such as those from MODIS and Landsat, and (2) the strategies and techniques to analyze geospatial data in advanced software packages. Various case studies and lab exercises help students overcome the initial hurdle to the effective use of satellite data in land use change and air pollution characterization, climate change and other areas related to public health. The final project allows the students to apply satellite data together with other information to solve a problem of their interest.

Additional in-depth computer exercises to EH 587; must enroll concurrently with EH 587.

The goal of environmental justice is to create a world with socially and environmentally equitable outcomes and a world wherein all have equal opportunity to participate in processes leading to evidence- based, positive policy. The methods of environmental justice are based on what is necessary for creating that space: engagement of communities and cultivation of capacity to understand and respond to environmental concerns; moral and empirically sound collaborations, and the goal of making a visible and positive difference for communities. This elective course will review intellectual contributions by community-based, anti-colonial and social theory leaders; frameworks for structuring and maintaining community ties; special ethical considerations for working with indigenous and other historically colonized communities; and will offer examples of environmental justice in public health research.

This course is designed to help students, as future public health practitioners, develop the knowledge and skills necessary to be and engage with water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) champions, program managers, researchers, policymakers, and donors. More specifically, the course supports applied learning on developing, executing, and evaluating sustainable and inclusive WASH in Schools interventions in collaboration with local, sub-national, and national stakeholders. The course addresses core areas of WASH in Schools programming within 9 modules that will help students identify areas of intervention, articulate what the program will do to bring about change, and how program success can be measured. We will cover recent WASH in Schools initiatives, introduce key evidence from literature, and discuss lessons learned to help maximize program impact and sustainability. Students will have the opportunity to interact with development professionals and policy makers from countries around the world and hear from speakers from organizations such as UNICEF, CARE, Save the Children, GIZ and others. The course has no prerequisites and takes place during the second half of the spring semester. We provide students with a flexible learning environment through the asynchronous delivery of lectures every week, which are accompanied by eight interactive online discussion sessions to provide cross-sectoral learning and experiences sharing.

Students will learn critical aspects of managing research projects in resource-limited environments. Key topics covered include: local permits and ethical clearances, international transport of biological and environmental material, formalizing partnerships, introducing a project to relevant stakeholders, administrative management, recruitment of staff and terms and conditions for staff, staff security, quality assurance systems, and data sharing/authorships among partners. Learning will take place through role-plays, student presentations, instructor case presentations, and group problem-solving exercises. One hypothetical project will be used as a case throughout the module. Taught in a short-course format, usually over four days. 

R-based qualitative Data Analysis for Environmental Health Researchers 

This course offers in-person and online training on data access, processing and modeling techniques commonly used in environmental health research. The goal is to prepare first year MPH students for conducting quantitative data analysis in the summer and during their second year. Topics include household/ambient air quality, environmental epidemiology, climate change, metabolomics, and epigenomics. Basic knowledge in each subject area will be provided via reading materials and pre-recorded lectures. Instructors will lead a discussion to the typical datasets in their actual research projects in an hour lecture, then work with the students on these datasets during a two-hour computer lab session. After this course, the students will be able to (1) perform data extraction and preprocessing, (2) conduct common data analysis, and (3) generate preliminary results. All coding will be taught in R. Standard class computer codes will be archived on Github. Recommended prerequisite: BIOS 544: Introduction to R programming for Non-BIOS students or equivalent.

Integrated Learning Experience in Environmental Health: Part 1 (Fall)

Integrated Learning Experience in Environmental Health: Part 2 (Spring)

The course provides a productive, supportive and critical environment for the completion of integrative learning experiences (ILE). EH skills gained during the MPH program are applied and integrated. Students will submit a completed ILE paper that describes the justification, methodologies, findings, and products of their ILE project, as well as a poster presentation that summarizes the highlights of their project.

Data Analysis in Environmental Health (Spring and Fall)

Pre-requisite: Students must bring ILE (e.g. thesis or capstone) related data to the class. 

This course provides a general review of analytic methods commonly used in the analysis of environmental health data with a specific emphasis of areas that will likely be useful to students in the analysis of their thesis or capstone research data. The course consists of  interactive discussions focused on how to analyze the data that students will use for their theses/capstones.  Additional topics may be discussed based on the particular interests and research activities of the students. 

Applied Practice Experience (APE)

An Applied Practice Experience (APE) is a unique opportunity that enables students to apply practical skills and knowledge learned through coursework to a professional public health setting that complements the student's interests and career goals. The APE must be supervised by a Field Supervisor and requires approval from an APE Advisor designated by the student's academic department at RSPH.

Directed Study

Pursue a specialized course of study in an area of special interest. Complements rather than replaces or substitutes for course work. ADAP permission only.

Thesis

Enables students to apply the principles and methods learned in an academic setting through the preparation of a monograph that embodies original research in environmental health and incorporates a proposition that has been successfully evaluated with appropriate statistical techniques and is potentially publishable or has potential public health impact. ADAP permission only.

The following courses are for the Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) Doctoral curriculum. Master's students may enroll in some of these classes based on EH department permission and space availability.

Public Health Research: Discovery to Practice (Fall)

Doctoral education in public health trains students to drive innovation and discovery in public health. Apart from the usual doctoral milestones of coursework, the qualifying exam, and the dissertation, much of the doctoral process is self-directed. Identifying your goals for your doctoral experience and how to achieve them can be daunting. This conversation-based course is designed to provide students with the tools to develop a personal strategy for successfully navigating the doctoral experience. Through this course, doctoral students will identify their personal and professional goals and develop a personal plan for reaching these objectives and goals. Students will engage with faculty and other doctoral students to learn how they have successfully navigated through common training and scientific challenges. By interfacing with colleagues, they will gain an appreciation of the breadth of the public health field and its multiple sub-disciplines, as well as the approaches used to translate science into practice. 

Research Rotation
(Fall, spring)

Advanced Laboratory and Field Methods in Exposure Science (Spring)

EHS 710 is a course for more advanced students. In this course, students will be introduced to the concepts of exposure science and the exposome. Students will learn how contaminants are transported from sources to receptors and, in particular, how human receptors are affected by such contact. All environmental media including air, water, soil, and dietary intake will be considered. Measures of exposure include direct measurements of environmental media contamination as well as biomarkers of exposure will be presented and discussed in detail. Students will examine the literature of exposure science through readings and research. While working in small groups of 2-4 individuals, students will design and implement a small-scale field study of exposure to a contaminant or contaminants of public health importance and present their results in class.

Introduction to Physiologically-Based Toxicokinetic (PBTK)/Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) Modeling

The health effects of environmental or pharmaceutical chemicals depend on the concentrations of the chemicals and their metabolites in the target tissues of the human body. Given an exposure to a chemical, understanding and predicting its internal concentrations (tissue dosimetry) requires a physiologically-based toxicokinetic (PBTK) or pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling approach. Based on human physiology and anatomy, PBTK/PBPK models mechanistically simulate the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination (ADME) processes that collectively determine the fates of exogenous chemicals in the human body, producing as model output temporal changes in chemical tissue concentrations. PBTK/PBPK modeling has be increasingly applied in chemical health risk assessment and drug discovery and development. This introductory course will allow students to learn what happens to chemicals in the human and animal bodies after chemical exposures and the physiological and biochemical determinants for chemical fate, and how to use numerical simulation tools to model what the body does to the chemicals. The course teaches the fundamental concepts underlying PBTK/PBPK modeling, mathematical description of the ADME of chemicals using mass-balance differential equations, building PBTK/PBPK models to simulate tissue dosimetry using the Berkeley Madonna or R software, and application of PBTK/PBPK models in human health risk/safety assessment of environmental chemicals and in drug discovery.

Computational Systems Biology: Modeling Biological Responses (Fall)

Prerequisites: General knowledge of cell, molecular biology or biochemistry, or instructor’s permission. Understanding biological responses to external perturbations, their health outcomes, and risks increasingly requires a systems biology approach. This course teaches the dynamical modeling aspect of systems biology. Such an approach is necessary to make sense of biological pathways/circuitries comprising genes, RNAs, proteins, and metabolites, and to understand how they are quantitatively organized as complex networks to carry out integrated, systems-level functions and respond to biological, pharmaceutical, and environmental perturbations. This interdisciplinary course introduces the basic concepts and principles in systems biology, and numerical simulation techniques for mechanically understanding and predicting biological responses. 

Molecular Toxicology (Spring)

Prerequisites: EH 520, equivalent, or instructor permission. The goal of this course is to strengthen the students’ understanding of the interaction between environmental chemicals and specific organ systems of the human body, focusing on appreciation of the explicit cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the toxicity. This knowledge will be supplemented through outside readings and class discussions using a modified problem based learning (PBL) format. These interactions will serve to support the students’ understanding of the material and provide them with a real-world perspective of molecular toxicology.

Methods in Environmental Epidemiology (Fall)

Prerequisites: EPI 530, EPI 539, BIOS 500, BIOS 501 or BIOS 591P, EPI 539, EPI 540 or EPI 545 is also preferred, or instructor’s permission. Students will gain experience reading, evaluating, and interpreting epidemiologic studies on the health impact of workplace and environmental exposures. The course aims to strengthen each student’s ability to understand and interpret the epidemiological literature. These skills will be developed through class lectures, assigned readings, and case studies. Although most case studies require data analysis, the focus of the class is on conceptual issues common in environmental epidemiology rather than on applied statistics.

Environmental Determinants of Infectious Disease (Spring)

Advanced Risk Assessment (Spring)

Prerequisite: EH 524 or EHS student. This course provides students with experience in quantitative methods used in environmental health risk assessment. The course will focus on areas such as: types of models used in estimation of health risks, quantification of variabilities and uncertainties in model-based estimates, Benchmark Dose (BMD) modeling for estimating reference doses, physiologically-based toxicokinetic (PBTK) modeling for internal exposure estimation and in vitro assay-based approach for chemical safety assessment. The course is taught at a PhD level and assumes familiarity with basic concepts of risk assessment as taught in EH 524.

EHS 790R (1)

Research Design and Management
(Fall, spring)

EHS students only. Conducting high-impact science goes beyond data analysis and laboratory research. Early stage scientists need to identify research projects, design studies, conduct experiments, critically evaluate relevant literature, publish papers, and present their findings. They also need to be aware of how their research practices and conduct, and those of their peers, can impact the field. EHS 790 focuses on key skills that unify doctoral students and scientists across scientific disciplines. This course is designed to provide students with specific training at the nexus of scientific methods and practice, building skills that are fundamental to the scientific enterprise, which support the ethical and responsible conduct of science.

The course will address the program competencies by training students in the range of skills needed to conduct research in the areas of exposure science, biological mechanisms of disease, and environmental determinants of population health.  Importantly, we also envision that this class will serve as a key forum for EHS community-building. Our weekly meetings will allow us to interact with other EHS students and program faculty, exchange and develop new ideas in research and mentoring, and share relevant difficulties and opportunities encountered during your doctoral training. EHS 790 is required for all students during their pre-candidacy training, however, all doctoral students in the program are permitted and encouraged to attend.

EHS 797R (VC)

Directed Study (Fall, Spring, Summer)

Students pursue a specialized course of study in an area of special interest. Complements rather than replaces or substitutes coursework. Requires an agreement with and permission from the faculty instructor and Department Chair.

EHS 798R (VC)

Pre-Candidacy Research Credits (Fall, Spring, Summer)

EHS doctoral students engage in research prior to candidacy. The type of research training that students complete during these research hours vary widely. Most research activities that contribute to students’ overall training and allow them to make progress in the program will qualify toward these credits. Examples of typical student research activities include: conducting primary data collection, performing an analysis, writing a manuscript, studying for the qualifying exam, or preparing a grant proposal.

EHS 799R (VC)

Dissertation Research (Fall, Spring, Summer)

Students may be interested in taking courses that are not available at Emory through the Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education (ARCHE) program. Students can take advantage of courses offered at the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Civil Engineering and/or at the Georgia Institute of Technology, College of Architecture, City Planning Program.