Environmental Health

A firefighter putting out a fire with foam

Protecting populations from dangers of PFAS exposure

Jackie Goodrich, a research associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, studies PFAS chemicals in firefighting gear and their health risks like cancer. PFAS alter gene expression and persist in the environment. New EPA rules aim to mitigate exposure and protect public health.

London Kozlowski

Conducting skills

From music education to public health research

As a second-year Environmental Health Sciences MPH student, London Kozlowski’s research includes studying the health impacts of benign tumors, noise exposure linked to strokes, and the Green Anesthesia Initiative focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Food growing from the soil

Food systems synergy

Exploring sustainable food systems with an interdisciplinary approach

The introductory course Foundations of Sustainable Food Systems explores the complexities and nuances of this topic, offering students all across the University of Michigan the ability to explore some of the interrelationships between core concepts within a food system, looking through the lenses of public health, environmental sustainability and the food policy process.

Kris Sarri scuba diving

Kris Sarri: Combating climate change with a policy pen

Kris Sarri, MPH ’97, exemplifies the University of Michigan mission of becoming leaders and best through her lifelong dedication to bettering the earth’s health through policy and action. Today, Sarri’s storied career is built upon two decades of work in Washington, DC, at the highest levels of the federal government.

Louise Merriman

Louise Merriman's lifelong dedication to nutrition culminates in planned gift to Nutritional Sciences

Culinary medicine is something Louise Merriman holds “near and dear to her heart”—a concept she has incorporated in her career as a Registered Dietitian for nearly 40 years. Merriman is supporting the University of Michigan School of Public Health’s Department of Nutritional Sciences through a new, seven-figure planned gift, the Drs. Kenneth Scott and Amherst Merriman Culinary Medicine Fund.

Interstate 75 shown cutting through downtown Detroit

Tackling noise closer to home

In addition to the work on e-waste, Rick Neitzel and the Exposure Research Lab continue to study how noise affects health. In Detroit and throughout the United States, interstate freeways were historically built through African American communities often with the goal of breaking them up or segregating them from white communities.