Environmental Health

Environmental Health at West Chester University is a great academic and career choice. We are a nationally-accredited MPH program that prepares advanced students for an exciting career working to solve the most pressing environmental problems of today and tomorrow. Environmental Health professionals anticipate, recognize, evaluate and control hazards that can affect human health in both the natural and built environment. Environmental Health professionals are strong scientists who apply their skills to solving environmental problems. Our graduates are in demand and are widely employed in the pharmaceutical industry, hospitals, universities, environmental consulting firms, food supply and distribution companies, state and federal government, and county health departments. Experts trained in Environmental Health are increasingly short in supply but long in demand; for a brief illustration of what we do visit the Association of Environmental Health Academic Programs website. At that same link you can also read the article “Environmental Health Workforce Shortage Puts the Health of People and the Environment at Risk.”

MPH Environmental Health Track candidates should have an undergraduate degree in a science, engineering or public health field but others with extensive coursework in the sciences are also invited to apply. We seek applicants with an undergraduate background that includes a year of biology with labs, including microbiology; a year and a half of chemistry with labs, including organic chemistry; math including pre-calculus and a basic statistics course. A broad familiarity with environmental health science is a distinct advantage.

All MPH students complete a common 18-credit core including courses in Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Environmental Health, Health Care Management and Social/Behavioral Health. This is followed by 21 credits of applied environmental courses in Risk Assessment, Environmental Regulations, Geographic Information Systems, Toxicology, Industrial Hygiene, Bioterrorism & Biocrises, Water Quality, Hazardous Waste Operations, Emergency Preparedness and/or other topical Workshops. During the final summer of your program you will gain hands-on experience through a required 6-credit Applied Learning Experience. In addition to the traditional 45-credit MPH we offer a fast-track option to advanced undergraduates in their final year of study.

Some of the most respected professional organizations represent the discipline of environmental health. For more background about what we do, who hires our students and what kinds of job opportunities await them, take a look at some of these links:

Further Information

Dr. Neha Sunger
610-436-2289
Email Dr. Neha Sunger

Learning Objectives

Upon graduation a student with an MPH should be able to:

Describe the direct and indirect human, ecological and safety effects of major environmental and occupational agents.
Describe genetic, physiologic and psychosocial factors that affect susceptibility to adverse health outcomes following exposure to environmental hazards.
Describe federal and state regulatory programs, guidelines and authorities that control environmental health issues.
Specify current environmental risk assessment methods.
Specify approaches for assessing, preventing and controlling environmental hazards that pose risks to human health and safety.
Explain the general mechanisms of toxicity in eliciting a toxic response to various environmental exposures.
Discuss various risk management and risk communication approaches in relation to issues of environmental justice and equity.
Develop a testable model of environmental insult.

These competencies were developed by the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH), 2006.

Advising Sheets

MPH Environmental Health students running tests and analyzing samples in the new lab.
Department of Health faculty work with students in the lab on various research projects
Department of Health Environmental Lab is equipped with advanced technology and equipment
Undergraduate and Graduate students in the Department of Health conducting research
Environmental Health students collecting water samples from local sources
Environmental Health faculty working with students out in the field
Environmental Health students conducting research in the lab.

Master of Public Health