Conference Sessions are Now Available Online, On-Demand
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) represent one of the most pressing environmental and occupational health challenges of our time. These persistent chemicals are found in water, soil, consumer products, and workplaces, raising urgent questions about health risks, exposure pathways, and strategies for prevention, treatment, and policy action.
Conference Sessions are Now Available Online, On-Demand
Climate change is pressing public health crisis that is already impacting the world of work. Join the Northern California Centers for Occupational and Environmental Health for a deep dive into the chemical, biological, and physical hazards of navigating climate extremes. Learn about the rising prevalence of Valley Fever, a fungal infection caused by inhaling dust or soil particles, particularly in drought-affected regions. Discuss the impacts of rising temperatures on worker safety, heat-related illness, and...
Thursday, February 5 (Online) & Friday, February 6, 2026 (In-Person | Berkeley, CA)
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) represent one of the most pressing environmental and occupational health challenges of our time. These persistent chemicals are found in water, soil, consumer products, and workplaces, raising urgent questions about health risks, exposure pathways, and strategies for prevention, treatment, and policy action.
Thursday, February 5th (Online) - Participants will engage with leading experts exploring the...
Objective: To ascertain whether reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) cycle amplifications until detection, the cycle threshold (Ct), could help inform return to work (RTW) strategies for health care workers (HCWs) recovering from COVID-19 infection.
Methods: Sequential Ct data from COVID-19 nasal pharyngeal (NP) RT-PCR testing in all COVID-19 positive HCWs at a single institution. Analysis of Ct in relation to time until negative testing for RTW clearance.
Results: Data for 12 employees showed that time...
Background Though SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks have been documented in occupational settings and in-person essential work has been suspected as a risk factor for COVID-19, occupational differences in excess mortality have, to date, not been examined. Such information could point to opportunities for intervention, such as vaccine prioritization or regulations to enforce safer work environments.
Methods and findings Using autoregressive integrated moving average models and California Department of Public Health data representing 356,188 decedents 18–65 years of age who died between...
Background: Cigarette smoking and occupational exposures each have been reported to increase the risk of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a disease previously considered of unknown origin. We investigated the risk of IPF mortality associated with combined smoking and occupational exposures.
Methods: A registry study of Swedish construction workers (N = 389,132), linked baseline smoking and occupational data with registry data on cause of death and hospital care diagnoses. Occupation was classified by the likelihood of exposure to vapors, gases,...
Objective Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other autoimmune (AI) conditions are associated with inorganic dust exposure. Many military activities are likely to entail inorganic dust exposures. We wished to identify associations between prior military dust exposure and RA and other AI conditions.
Methods We studied persons from a roster of Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps personnel who had served in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operations Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn. We linked military occupational codes to a job exposure matrix assigning dust exposure likelihood. We used...
Purpose: Secondary metalworking carries exposure to relatively heavy levels of respirable particulate. We investigated the extent to which metalworking is associated with increased exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), an established inflammatory biomarker.
Methods: We studied 80 metalworking factory employees in Kazakhstan. Informed by industrial hygiene data, we categorized them into three groups: (1) machine operators (41%); (2) welders or assemblers (33%); and (3) all others, including administrative and ancillary staff (26%). Participants completed...
The aim of this study is to characterize personal exposure of workers to respirable particulate matter (PM) generated in cutting and other fabrication activities when fabricating acryl polymer/aluminium trihydroxide synthetic countertops. We collected 29 personal full-day samples of respirable PM from three workers in a small private workshop. We tested differences between- and within-worker variances of mass concentrations using the Kruskall-Wallis test. We used segmented regression to test the means and medians 15-min interval concentrations changes over time and to identify a breakpoint...
HRSA-Funded Preventive Medicine Residency Program Directors Workgroup*
2021
The 2020 SARS-CoV-2 pandemic created a unique opportunity for Public Health/General Preventive Medicine (PH/GPM) and Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OM) residents to contribute to pandemic public health response activities. We surveyed all 18 Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-funded PH/GPM and OM residency program directors to evaluate program and resident involvement in pandemic response activities from January 1 through June 30, 2020. Of 116 residents, 110 (95%) participated at some level in the response activities including screening/testing, contact tracing,...
