Environmental Health Sciences

We strive to achieve this goal through excellence in research, teaching and service. Since 1980, a major organizational theme of the Department has been the framework of Molecular Epidemiology. Originated by faculty in our Department, this field combines laboratory-based, molecular toxicology approaches with a population-based, epidemiological approach to investigating and preventing environmental and occupational diseases. This fundamental paradigm shift now defines the majority of environmental health-related science around the world.

Our faculty is our greatest strength and asset. Its stature was recently highlighted in the 2006-2007 Chronicle of Higher Education, which ranked Environmental Health Sciences departments on the basis of scholarly productivity. The Mailman School’s EHS Department ranked second overall nationally, and first by a wide margin in several key categories such as publications per faculty, citations per faculty, new grants per faculty, and the total value of new grants per faculty.

Over the last 10-15 years, the Department has become extensively involved in collaborative research. Our two Centers, the Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan and the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health and the Department’s single largest research effort, the Superfund Basic Research Program, involve collaborations with faculty from throughout the Medical Center, the Morningside Campus, and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in wide-ranging projects in both the United States and abroad. In addition, the Department has long played an active and critical role in the activities of the Columbia Earth Institute.

Our Department is renowned for its active partnership with environmental community groups through the work of the two centers and their related research projects. For example, the Community Outreach and Education Cores of the Centers are frequently cited as outstanding examples of bi-directional cooperation in community-based participatory research and the translation of scientific findings into community action that improves the environment and public health. Additionally, the Superfund Program has strong interactions with state and county agencies in New York and New Jersey on issues related to drinking water quality.