Courses Taught by Simone Charles

EHS591: Environmental Toxicology In Communities

• Graduate level
• Online MPH only
• This is a second year course for Online students
• Summer term(s) for online MPH students;
• 3 credit hour(s) for online MPH students;
• Instructor(s): Simone Charles, Simone Charles, (Online MPH);
• Prerequisites: None
• Advisory Prerequisites: Successful completion of PUBHLTH 514 is preferred
• Description: Toxicology deals with the health effects that can result from environmental hazard exposures. In some communities, these exposures are compounded by historical inequities. Understanding the mechanisms by which these individual and cumulative exposures influence health outcomes is important to inform policy that promotes health and reduces health disparities.
• Learning Objectives: 1. Articulate basic concepts and terminology pertinent to environmental toxicology and the body’s response to toxicant exposures 2. Describe the various sources of toxicants to humans with an emphasis of sources in historically marginalized communities 3. Determine the influence of environmental factors, including environmental racism, on toxicological outcomes 4. Discuss cumulative risks and modifying factors that influence the toxicological response of the body, considering historical compounded environmental exposures 5. Discuss the regulatory framework and policies needed to address historical environmental racism-associated exposures to toxicants in communities

EHS592: Infectious Disease And Emergency Response In Communities

• Graduate level
• Both Residential and Online MPH
• This is a first year course for Online students
• Fall term(s) for residential students; Fall term(s) for online MPH students;
• 3 credit hour(s) for residential students; 3 credit hour(s) for online MPH students;
• Instructor(s): Simone Charles (Residential);
• Prerequisites: None
• Description: This course will provide students an understanding of infectious disease outbreaks and control, the current infrastructure in the US to address infectious diseases and deploy emergency response, the role public health practitioners have in emergency response, and how gaps in infectious disease and emergency response in communities can be addressed.
• Learning Objectives: By the end of the course, students should be able to: 1. Describe the source of infectious diseases. 2. Characterize modes of disease transmission. 3. Identify key factors impacting the emergence of infectious disease outbreaks, including the role played by the environment. 4. Describe the role of emergency response in infectious disease mitigation and management, as well as public health infrastructure. 5. Understand the United States' infrastructure to respond to infectious disease outbreaks and pandemics. 6. Describe the United States' capabilities and capacity to address infectious disease outbreaks and deploy emergency response. 7. Compare the United States' capabilities and capacity to address infectious disease outbreaks relative to other developed nations. 8. Explain the impact of environmental and social injustices, including racism, on the emergence and outcomes of infectious disease outbreaks and emergency response. 9. Explain how structural racism has undermined environmental health at community, organizational, and societal levels. 10. Report on how structural racism has undermined occupational health at community, organizational, and societal levels. 11. Examine strategies that can be applied to enhance emergency response to infectious disease outbreaks, including strategies that promote environmental justice in communities. 12. Determine the role of public health practitioners to address and dismantle structural racism in infectious disease emergency response.

EHS596: Climate, Justice, Health & Sustainability

• Graduate level
• Online MPH only
• This is a second year course for Online students
• Winter term(s) for online MPH students;
• 2 credit hour(s) for online MPH students;
• Instructor(s): Simone Charles, Marie O'Neill, (Online MPH);
• Prerequisites: PUBHLTH 514
• Advisory Prerequisites: None
• Description: Effective climate action that simultaneously acts to reduce inequalities must focus on climate justice if climate action is to result in resilient communities. We will focus on the science of climate change and health impacts through the lens of climate justice and environmental justice (EJ) for disproportionately impacted communities.
• Learning Objectives: Learning objectives for this course are: a. Explain key features of the phenomenon of climate change (and the associated climate justice) including major drivers, time course, uncertainties, impact and distribution of associated risks b. Describe the major health-relevant exposures, specific to disparate communities, that are sensitive to climate change c. Describe the major anticipated health effects associated with exposures to disparate communities affected by climate change d. Discuss the health impacts of climate change specific to vulnerable populations e. Explain important tools used for assessing vulnerability of disparate communities to climate change impacts f. Discuss prevention, adaptation, and mitigation actions, with considerations of climate justice, to prevent and control anticipated exposures due to climate change g. Evaluate policy options for climate change resilience, mitigation and adaptation at the global, national, institutional and individual scales h. Discuss public health responses to anticipated climate change-related health outcomes in disparate communities

EHS604: Integrated Approaches in Environmental Health

• Graduate level
• Residential
• Fall term(s) for residential students;
• 2 credit hour(s) for residential students;
• Instructor(s): Simone Charles (Residential);
• Offered Every fall semester
• Last offered Fall 2024
• Prerequisites: Grad Status
• Advisory Prerequisites: Completion of approved internship, research or practical experience
• Description: This project-oriented course provides the student the opportunity to integrate academic principles, practical skills and concepts in environmental health related to a real-world environmental health problem. This course provides an integrated experience in EHS approaches, combining expertise and knowledge in environmental quality, industrial hygiene, exposure, toxicology into an integrated project.
• Learning Objectives: a. To provide useful insights and solutions to a real problem in Environmental Health Sciences (EHS): Explore the ability to use data and models to provide scientific insights to this problem b. To integrate scientific information and public health skills through interacting with students from other EHS specializations on a common project c. To learn to select and apply tools/methods/models and empirical approaches to understand and assess exposure d. Communicate environmental health sciences content and findings in multiple forms appropriate to various audiences e. Appreciate the nexus of MPH Program components to personal educational and professional goals.

Concentration Competencies that EHS604 Allows Assessment On

Department	Program	Degree	Competency	Specific course(s) that allow assessment
EHS	Environmental Health Sciences	MPH	Communicate environmental and occupational health findings in writing at a level consistent with peer-reviewed journals, including descriptions of design, results, and interpretation	EHS604

EHS651: Occupational Health, Safety And Environmental Program Management

• Graduate level
• Residential
• Winter term(s) for residential students;
• 3 credit hour(s) for residential students;
• Instructor(s): Jan Lach, Richard Neitzel, Simone Charles, (Residential);
• Offered Every other year (next offering: Winter 2025)
• Last offered Winter 2023
• Prerequisites: None
• Advisory Prerequisites: None
• Description: This course introduces students to the breadth of functions and activities routinely performed by OHSE managers. Topics include: OHSE organization structure, management systems, program content, metrics, budgeting, risk management, incident investigation, emergency preparedness and response, regulatory compliance, legal systems, health and safety culture, and prevention through design processes.
• Learning Objectives: Students will gain a fundamental understanding of: (1) How OHSE programs are typically organized, the roles and responsibilities of OHSE managers, and expectations of other OHSE stakeholders in the organization. (2) Challenges associated with managing personnel and processes, including dealing with ethical issues, setting goals and measuring performance, hiring and training professionals, and managing consultants. (3) Financial aspects of program management, such as risk management and insurance, budgeting, workers compensation, and legal liability for both corporate activities and products. (4) Incident investigation and management, as well as emergency planning and response management. (5) Regulatory rulemaking, inspections, and compliance management processes.

Concentration Competencies that EHS651 Allows Assessment On

Department	Program	Degree	Competency	Specific course(s) that allow assessment
EHS	Industrial Hygiene	MPH	Describe the relevance of business and managerial practices to workplace health and safety	EHS651

EHS672: Healthy and Sustainable Foods and Products- Life Cycle Assessment

• Graduate level
• Both Residential and Online MPH
• This is a second year course for Online students
• Winter term(s) for residential students; Fall term(s) for online MPH students;
• 3 credit hour(s) for residential students; 3 credit hour(s) for online MPH students;
• Instructor(s): Simone Charles (Residential);
• Offered Every winter semester (next offering: Winter 2025)
• Last offered Winter 2024
• Prerequisites: None
• Description: This course describes how consumption, products and foods affect impacts on health and environment. After addressing the major health determinants, we assess diets nutritional and sustainable performances. We use LCA to analyze the environmental impact of products, with focus on chemicals in consumer products, discussing the path towards sustainable consumption.
• Learning Objectives: 1. To identify the key factors impacting health and the environment, including the roles played by products. 2. To assess and compare the nutritional and sustainable performances of foods, accounting for both the consumer health and the environment. 3. To provide tools and practice opportunities for Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to assess the environmental impact of products and systems over the whole product life cycle 4. To set the fundamentals for comparative risks of chemicals in consumer products. 5. To adequately relate risk and impacts on human health to consumption and production, from single products to sustainable consumption.
• Residential Syllabus for EHS672