First published on July 13, 2015 in observance of the COPH’s 30^th anniversary celebration.

Founded in 1997 by a training grant supported by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the Sunshine Education and Research Center at the USF College of Public Health stemmed from an industrial hygiene training program grant in the late 1980s.

“NIOSH has several charters,” explained Dr. Thomas Bernard, chair and professor in Environmental and Occupational Health and SERC (pronounced SIR-see) program director since 2008.  “One of them is to support and encourage the development of professionals in the field of occupational safety and health.  A mechanism for doing that is through training grants.”

After Bernard’s arrival in 1989, additional training program grants followed in occupational medicine and occupational health nursing.  Then the department began work on an occupational safety program.  Eight years later, the fledgling operation had grown enough to warrant centralization.

“In the mid-’90s,” Bernard said, “we decided that we would combine those training activities with a grant and ask for an education center.  The application required that it have training in at least three programs, and we had four: safety, industrial hygiene, medicine and nursing.  The application was accepted and funded under the leadership of Stuart M. Brooks and Yehia Hammad.”

Being headquartered at a university the size of USF naturally leads any interdisciplinary entity into an expansion cornucopia that Bernard is happy to enumerate, along with the USF colleges involved.

“Because they are multidiscipline programs, part of their value is the interdisciplinary training,” he said.  “We added, about seven years ago, occupational health psychology, so that’s now a funded program in Arts and Sciences.  We’ve expanded the safety program to include a degree out of engineering.  Obviously, we’re involved with the [Morsani] College of Medicine:  The clinical rotations and residency certificates come out of medicine, and then the academic training comes out of public health.

“With nursing,” he said, “we have three options.  One is a straight occupational health nursing degree, a second one is a dual degree in nursing and public health, and then we also have a third degree that’s strictly public health.”

Thomas Bernard, PhD

Another requirement under the grant from NIOSH, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a continuing education component,  which also has been added.  Additional expansion has stemmed from outreach activities, student recruitment and a pilot project in research training for doctoral students and junior faculty.

“We support these throughout the region,” Bernard qualified, “so they aren’t only for USF.  We have reached way beyond ourselves in terms of the arrangements that we have, but we engage the professional community more than the community at large.”

He added that the center is “very much engaged” in state and regional professional conferences, as well as in coordination with other ERCs in the state and the region.

“By and large, we have a very good national profile,” he said.  “There are just a couple of us that reach out globally, but those are more individual efforts.  The ERC is designed to serve primarily Florida, and in a larger sense, the Southeast region.  That’s our mission and our charter from NIOSH, not to go beyond that, but I think we have expertise in a number of areas that have national recognition.”

The highly technical nature of some of those areas probably help limit recognition to professional circles, but their significance would be difficult to deny. Respiratory protection from nanoparticles is one of them, but as Bernard pointed out, it’s not exactly a topic on most people’s minds.

“Few people are asking, ‘What happens when you breathe those in?’  Some of them have characteristics that are not unlike asbestos.  Others are easily transported across the air-blood barriers, so they move through the lungs into the blood and get transported elsewhere in the body.  So protecting individuals from nanoparticles is important,” he said.

And the list goes on.

“We have a major presence in the area of heat stress – how to evaluate heat stress, how to manage it, and especially, the effects of protective clothing.  We have fairly good recognition in Europe in the area of ergonomics,” he continued,  “and occupational health psychology clearly is one of our well-recognized programs.”

Workplace stress, safety climate and work-family balance are others, he said.

“And then,” he concluded with a nod that said he’d saved the best for last, “we turn out good students, and we’re recognized through the product of the quality of our students.”

SERC hosts a six-day Summer Institute for Occupational Health and Safety for students interested in exploring graduate studies.

Looking ahead is easy for Bernard, and he likes what he sees for his organization.

“I think that everything we do in public health, and everything we do within the SERC, is prevention – preventing people from being injured or having their health impaired,” he said.  “But I think our opportunity here at USF lies in translating research to practice and also expanding on the fact that a healthy workforce is healthy not only from controlling exposures to hazards in the workplace, but also from encouraging healthy activities outside the workplace.

“So, bringing these work and home lives together is an opportunity for us,” Bernard concluded, “and that’s where I see our future.”

Story by David Brothers, College of Public Health.

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Each year, students in the USF College of Public Health (COPH) nominate faculty members for the COPH’s Excellence in Teaching Award.

The award is given to one faculty member who, according to the college’s webpage, “has made major contributions to student development, as well as to the quality of education within their department and the college as a whole.”

This year’s recipient is Patrick Rodriguez, instructor I, who received both his BS and MSPH with a concentration in industrial hygiene from USF.

“Receiving this award is a great honor and a recognition of the hard work and dedication that I have put into instruction,” Rodriguez said. “It reminds me of how important it is to make strong connections with the students in my classroom. It also motivates me to continue improving my lecturing skills and keep striving for excellence.”

Rodriguez has a strong background in epidemiology and environmental health and worked for the Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County for eight years before returning to his alma mater to teach. At the COPH, Rodriguez teaches a variety of undergraduate courses on topics such as health disparities, public health policies and practices and critical issues in public health.

Students praised Rodriguez for his ability to engage and motivate them.

“In January 2022, I began attending the COPH as a new transfer student from a small community college. It was the first time I was living on my own, just figuring out what I wanted to do with my life,” said COPH student Zachary Sanders in his nomination of Rodriguez. “This was an exciting yet turbulent experience. Patrick Rodriguez was one of the first faculty members to get to know me, talking to me before or after classes and in the hallways. He got to know me on a personal level, asking what motivated me and what I would like to do with my career in public health. Very quickly, the college turned into a place in which I felt like I belonged, one in which faculty cared about the development of its undergraduates and prepared them for anything in life, not just public health.”

“I’ve taken part in different volunteering activities with Patrick,” added Laura Perdiguero in her nomination materials. “The one that made the biggest difference in me was the humanitarian relief activity I carried out with him in Immokalee after Hurricane Ian happened. Patrick is so involved with migrant farm workers, and the experience was so inspiring for me. It taught me a lot about vulnerable communities in Florida.”

In an effort to help his students succeed, Rodriguez said he strives to create a supportive, inclusive environment where students feel valued and are encouraged to participate.

“I believe that every student has the potential to succeed, and I work to create opportunities for each of my students to achieve their goals and fulfill their potential,” he said.

Rodriguez said that what he loves most about teaching is sharing his knowledge of and passion for public health with his students.

“I love seeing the progress and growth of my students as they learn and develop their skills,” he said. “I also love the challenge of finding creative and effective ways to engage my students and help them find their passion. I hope to inspire my students to pursue their interests and to develop a curiosity and thirst for knowledge that will stay with them throughout their lives.”

To view the awards ceremony, click here.

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

The post COPH honors Patrick Rodriguez with the 2023 Excellence in Teaching Award appeared first on College of Public Health News.

Dr. Ira Richards, a USF College of Public Health (COPH) professor who specialized in toxicology, and Dr. Lillian Stark, a veteran of the Florida Department of Health Bureau of Laboratories, the 2005 COPH Florida Outstanding Woman in Public Health and a past adjunct assistant professor at the college, recently passed away.

Ira Richards, PhD

Richards was a member of the COPH faculty for over 35 years, joining the college in 1986 as an assistant professor of toxicology in the department of environmental and occupational health—a department he helped build from the ground up.

Richards received his PhD from New York University. In addition to his COPH faculty position, he was also a professor in the department of internal medicine at USF. He was a consultant to the Tampa Bay Poison Information Center, Southwest Florida Water Management District on pesticide-related health effects and a hazardous substances consultant and emergency responder to both the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and the City of Tampa Fire and Rescue.

Expert in toxicology, respiratory irritants

His research interests centered on respiratory irritants and the expression of biomarkers of inflammation and oxidative stress from exposures to chemical agents. His lab was able to isolate single muscle fiber activity and record how that activity was affected by ambient toxicants. This led to his interest in red tide. Richards explored the effects of brevetoxin (a toxin that affects the central nervous system of fish) from red tide on pulmonary tissue.

One of Richard’s proudest achievements was his work developing a popular toxicology book, Principles and Practice of Toxicology in Public Health, used in many colleges of public health. The COPH’s Dr. Marie Bourgeois, a research assistant professor, helped author the book.

Funny and strong

“For those who may not have known him well, a visit to his office would tell you two things,” Dr. Donna Petersen, dean of the COPH, said. “First, you will be in awe of what can fit into 100 square feet. He grew up in New York City and maximizing space was a survival trait. Second, he loved books. He could tell you how thoughts evolved through editions, and how physiological systems deal with perturbations, especially disease and environmental insult. And he willingly shared his knowledge with those who would ask. You could also see the famous 10-year-old cupcake whose youth and vigor had benefited from trans fat.”

Dr. Steve Mlynarek, COPH professor focusing on industrial hygiene, remembers Richards as a humorous man with inordinate strength in the face of challenges. “He would come to my office once or twice a week and we would talk about everything wrong with the world, and everything right as well,” Mylnarek said. “These 15-minute vacations taught me a lot. He was able to face his troubles with a positive attitude. He was the toughest guy I knew.”

Dr. Tom Bernard, another COPH professor specializing in industrial hygiene, recalls the camaraderie he and Richards built around the picnic tables outside the NEC, discussing their future fates in the hands of the tenure and promotion committees.

Dr. Karen Liller, distinguished university health professor, remembers securing a seat next to Richards in the back of the room at faculty meetings. “No matter what was happening, he always made me laugh and smile. I have lost a lifelong friend,” she said. “His wry humor and very clever personal asides will be missed,” added Dr. Jay Wolfson, distinguished service professor of public health, medicine and pharmacy.

Bourgeois also noted Richard’s dry wit.

“Ira was pure snark. As his grad student, I was informed that ‘adequate’ was high praise,” Bourgeois said. “He never failed to remind me that I was adequate. So, when I graduated, I got him a paperweight that enshrined the term.”

Lillian Stark, PhD, MPH

Two-time Bull Lillian Stark earned her PhD in biology from the university in 1976 and her MPH from the COPH in 1988. For over 40 years, she worked for the Florida Department of Health, tracking diseases and outbreaks.

In a Monday Letter interview she gave just prior to her retirement in 2012, Stark recounted how she became interested in public health.

Start in public health

“I was a doctoral student at USF in the ’70s and someone scooped my dissertation topic,” Stark said. “Around the same time, my husband Arnold and I were seeking employment and turned to JobCorp, the State of Florida’s job search system. We were both earning doctorates in marine biology, but JobCorp gave us very different job referrals. My husband received a referral card for a laboratory job doing epidemiology research. I was referred to a secretarial job. Obviously, the system was plagued by gender-bias. As luck would have it, Arnold secured a job with a private school so I took his referral card and interviewed for the lab job. I quickly surmised that I could readily do the lab work, but I needed to learn the language of public health. So, I enrolled in the college and took one course a semester until I finished.”

Dedicated public health servant

Thus started Stark’s long and storied career in virology and public health laboratories. In addition to her work with the Florida Department of Health, she also was a COPH adjunct assistant professor, teaching a course on public health laboratories. Over the years she mentored countless students, including COPH associate professor and alumna Dr. Jill Roberts.

“At the service, it was mentioned that Dr. Stark was a force of nature and I cannot think of a more perfect description,” Roberts said. “She was an exemplary public health professional and highly respected in her field. To me, she was a brilliant, skilled, dedicated and driven role model and mentor. She instilled in me a passion for public health laboratory work that drives the work I do today.” 

Mentor and friend

Lea Heberlein, DrPH, a medical laboratory scientist and COPH alum, said Stark was an important mentor for her as well. “She (strongly) encouraged me to pursue a doctorate degree. She shaped my career, and I know she did the same for many other public health professionals.”

Natalie Preston, who’s now director of the COPH’s Office of Engagement and Constituent Relations, remembers first meeting Stark when she managed the college’s field experience program.

“I fondly recall my first meetings with Dr. Stark,” Preston said. “She would have my head spinning with virology-speak! She loved her work and made sure that every student who fell under her care had a rich practicum. Some students would go on to work in her lab on a full- or part-time basis. Dr. Stark was always kind to me, and we eventually developed a professional friendship. She will be missed.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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USF College of Public Health (COPH) Professor Dr. Tom Bernard has been honored by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) with the William D. Wagner Award.

The award, given annually since 2003, recognizes a person in the field of national and international worker health and safety who is an outstanding example of commitment and dedication to the creation and dissemination of occupational exposure values (OEVs).

OEVs are the levels of admissible exposure to a chemical or physical hazard before that exposure is likely to affect a worker’s health.

“I am privileged that ACGIH chose to recognize my 20-some years of participation in the setting of professional practice guidelines,” Bernard said.

Bernard, an expert in occupational safety and health, has served on ACGIH’s Physical Agents Committee for more than 20 years and with International Standards Organization for 14 years to help promote professional practice guidelines, especially in the area of heat stress. He’s also promoted heat stress management and ergonomics for over 30 years through workforce development activities.

“Promotion of worker health and well-being is a slice of public health,” Bernard said. “As an occupational health, safety and wellness professional, I advocate for the prevention of illness and injury among workers and for the advancement of health. The results are to the advantage of employers and employees in better performance and productivity at lower costs.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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USF College of Public Health (COPH) alumnus Commander Lane Vause grew up in the suburbs of Boise, Idaho. His father was a first-generation college graduate and emphasized to Vause and his siblings that they had to either learn a trade, go to college or join the U.S. Service.

“I did both. I went to college at Idaho State University and earned my BS in laboratory science and my MS in vet science from the University of Wyoming. I then joined the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (USPHS) after learning about it while interning in laboratory science at Fort Hall Reservation in Southeastern Idaho,” he said. “I have not regretted my career choice serving those both on the reservation and beneficiaries.”

Vause was first introduced to public health through the USPHS.

“I was part of the USPHS for many years and really didn’t understand what public health was, even as a commission officer,” he said. “So, after taking a COPH course for an infection control certificate, I wanted to further my knowledge base and decided to go for the MPH degree at the COPH to broaden my knowledge.”

As an online MPH student, Vause said that he loved the flexibility the course gave him while working full-time. He also enjoyed his field experience course that allowed him to meet fellow students and faculty in person.

“One of the most memorable experiences was when I took part in a field experience in Ecuador and was able to meet a lot of my fellow students in person. I would tell all public health students that this field experience was one of the best things I had done in a long time,” he said. “I was able to see another culture, look at another country’s health system and see how public health was applied to help with tropical diseases in a South American country.”

As a commander in the USPHS, Vause is currently stationed in Dallas as a laboratory consultant with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He’s charged with ensuring 23,850 laboratories in Region 6 are in compliance with the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments.

Vause provides expert advice and consultation based upon knowledge of quality practices in clinical laboratory services as defined by federal regulation. He also provides professional guidance to staff reviewing the case files of state certification agency surveys, helping them identify deficiencies and recommend appropriate solutions.

In addition, he performs and leads direct surveys of certified health facilities and laboratories to validate state survey agency activities and evaluate the effectiveness of federal regulations, policies and procedures. Vause is also on the Regional Incident Response Team, where he facilitates and assists the regional emergency coordinator in generating ESF-8 missions.

“In my career, I love that I get to meet new people on a weekly basis when I do laboratory inspections,” he said. “I see different leadership strategies, different equipment, different ways of making the laboratory operational, both good and bad.”

COPH Alumni Fast Five

• What did you dream of becoming when you were young?
  • A doctor. Even though I didn’t make it, I still am in the allied health field.
• Where would we find you on the weekend?
  • I am a gamer. I love playing video games and hanging out with my wife and daughter.
• What is the last book you read?
  • “Gung Ho!” by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles. It tells how to boost morale in the workplace and how to provide real leadership to organizations.
• What superpower would you like to have?
  • Teleportation. I would love to see friends and family members whom I have not seen for decades. I always love to catch up with those friends to see what they have done in their lives.
• What’s your all-time favorite movie?
  • “The Empire Strikes Back.” I love how Yoda gives life lessons: patience, don’t be overconfident in your own abilities and that people matter.

Story by Caitlin Keough, USF College of Public Health

The post Commander Lane Vause honored with USF COPH Outstanding Alumni Award appeared first on College of Public Health News.

The USF College of Public Health (COPH) has teamed with Purdue University and the University of Toledo to develop online training modules and research experiences for graduate students across the country studying industrial hygiene. 

The modules are being developed with the help of a nearly $250,000, 5-year National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) grant titled Distance Education and Training on Emerging Contaminants and Technology (DETECT). Emerging contaminants to be covered include, but are not limited to, nanoparticles, bioaerosols and ototoxic compounds. Learning will be both lecture-based and hands-on.

The NIEHS, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), supports cutting-edge, innovative health science research. According to its website, “Prospective graduate students and graduate students from the DETECT consortium institutions and beyond will be encouraged to participate. These intensive sessions will include research training, laboratory tours, and the opportunity for participants to complete, analyze and present a short research project.

They will develop five online laboratories and at least one virtual reality laboratory. The online laboratories will be accessible using an internet browser and will be incorporated into the online educational modules. The virtual reality laboratory will be completed in-person by graduate students at the DETECT consortium institutions.”

Dr. Marie Bourgeois, a COPH research assistant professor and alumna of the college, is principal investigator of the USF portion of the NIEHS grant. Dr. Tom Bernard, a COPH professor, is co-investigator.

“We’re developing lectures with assessments built into them, disaster response training, online labs and an in-person, one-week summer research session,” Bourgeois said. “This training is designed to provide education on emerging contaminants and technologies so future industrial hygienists can help keep both themselves and the people they are responsible for safe.”

Bourgeois said some of the things she and her colleagues will seek to include in the modules range from basic training, such as how to properly take off personal protection equipment to reduce the risk of contamination, to technical advances, such as detecting harmful algae blooms.

“We’ll be giving students training and then we’ll present them with an industrial or environmental problem that they’ll have to handle,” Bourgeois said. “It could be a spill, a bloom or some sort of hazard that’s popped up and they’re going to have to work out a toxicity profile, how to characterize the risk and then how to deal with it.”

Bourgeois noted that development of the modules is still in the planning stages, with the group working not just on content, but also on how to present the information in a format that’s cohesive and uniform. 

“If this is successful, and we continually refine the modules and improve upon them, I’d really like to see this expand to a wider audience beyond just graduate students studying industrial hygiene,” Bourgeois said. “It could become open to others looking at a public health degree with a science slant.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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It wasn’t until her last year of undergraduate work at the University of South Florida (USF) that Dr. Laura Riley even thought about a career in public health.

“I took an intro to public health course during the last year of my undergraduate degree, which really introduced me to the field and the possibility of pursuing a career in that direction,” said Riley, who graduated from the USF College of Public Health in 2016 with her doctorate in occupational exposure science. 

“I began researching the different departments within the COPH,” she added, “and Dr. Yehia Hammad [now retired] met with me personally to discuss the environmental and occupational health department. After hearing more about this department and researching all of the potential career opportunities available for someone with this background, I made the decision to pursue an MSPH degree [and later her doctorate].”

Three-time Bull

Staying at USF for her two graduate degrees was a no-brainer for Riley, a native of Melbourne, Fla. She says being on campus already made it easy to research the graduate program and meet with department leaders to get her questions answered. “USF seemed to have such a great and well-established program,” she said. “And not having to pick up and move my entire life to a new place was a bonus!”

Riley says one of her fondest memories while attending the COPH was sitting in Dr. Steve Mlynarek’s office (her graduate thesis advisor) for what she dubbed her “therapy sessions.” 

“There were laughs and sometimes tears, but I always left feeling like I had someone in my corner during this sometimes stressful process,” Riley said.

One of Riley’s biggest challenges during her six-year graduate journey was becoming a first-time mom while a student. 

“I knew that after graduation that I wanted to launch into my industrial hygiene career, and that immediately getting pregnant when entering the workforce may impact that,” Riley explained. “So, I made the decision to have both my kids while completing my doctorate degree. This definitely added a whole other layer of stress and exhaustion, but I’m so grateful to the faculty (Dr. Jaime Corvin, in particular), who were reaffirming and supportive of my decision. My kids were too young to remember watching their mom walk across the stage to receive her doctorate degree, but I think it is a great story to tell them and a lesson on ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way.’”

Creating a safer hospital system, especially during COVID

Riley’s first job post-graduation is also her current one. For the past five years, she’s been a certified industrial hygienist for Northside Hospital’s Infection Prevention Department. Northside has five acute-care hospitals and over 240 outpatient facilities and takes care of patients in 25 counties across Georgia.

“I love that I serve as almost an ‘in-house consultant’ for our hospital system, which means that no week is ever the same! I’ve helped integrate industrial hygiene and environmental health into many programs and policies throughout the Northside system, including the fields of employee exposure assessments, indoor air quality, ventilation systems, water management and construction infection control,” said Riley, who is also the infection control subcommittee chair for the American Industrial Hygiene Association’s (AIHA) Healthcare Working Group and the second year director for the AIHA Georgia local section.

With the advent of COVID-19, making hospitals safe has taken on an even greater urgency. 

“Once COVID hit, my work became much more focused on assisting our employee health department with N95 mask selection and respiratory-protection education for our staff,” Riley stated. “I also worked closely with our engineering department as we set up COVID influx units.  A lot was being asked of our engineering department regarding ventilation design changes, so I felt sort of like the liaison and ‘translator’ between operations and administration. This involved a lot of education on pressure differentials, filtration efficiency and air changes.”

Beyond the books

According to Riley, the COPH not only gave her a top-notch academic education, but it also taught her essential communication skills. 

“I have an entire shelf in my office where I keep all of my old textbooks, and I’ll frequently reference them for different questions or issues,” Riley said. “But in addition to what I learned academically, I also learned so many interpersonal skills that helped me navigate more easily in my professional career—things like being comfortable speaking or presenting to a group, being able to explain technical concepts in a way that makes sense to someone outside the IH field and using scientific reasoning to problem-solve issues when they arise. I find that [this job] is the perfect blend of strict science and people-focused work. It allows you to interact and collaborate with so many different groups of people. I can confidently say that my degree program gave me such a thorough knowledge base for so many facets of this diverse profession.”

Alumni Fast Five

What did you dream of becoming when you were young?

I wanted to be a dentist from such a young age, all the way up until my sophomore/junior year of college! But when it came time to start planning to take the DAT and applying to dental schools, I just could not find the motivation. That made me realize that I perhaps needed to start expanding my horizons into other facets of STEM.

Where can we find you on the weekend?

Hiking or camping in the North Georgia mountains with my family or working in the yard!

What is the last book you read?

“Commonwealth,” by Ann Patchett

What superpower would you like to have?

Teleportation!

What’s your all-time favorite movie?

Any 90s romantic comedy!

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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It was a toxicology class at the Inter American University in Puerto Rico that spurred USF College of Public Health (COPH) graduate Dr. Luis F. Pieretti’s interest in industrial hygiene. 

“At that time, I was thinking about pursuing a graduate degree, but I wasn’t sure in which field,” said Pieretti, who hails from the municipality of Yauco, located in the southern part of Puerto Rico. “The professor who taught the [toxicology] course gave me a booklet from the Society of Toxicology that listed graduate programs. While browsing the programs, I came across the industrial hygiene program at the University of Puerto Rico. After doing some research, I discovered that I really liked the idea of helping protect workers’ health.”

“I discovered that I really liked the idea of helping protect workers’ health.”

From Puerto Rico to Tampa

Pieretti says he decided to pursue his doctoral degree in industrial hygiene (now called occupational exposure science) at the COPH because of the research the college was conducting and the highly regarded faculty driving it.

“My advisor, Dr. Yehia Y. Hammad, who’s now retired, had an extensive knowledge of and enthusiasm for the industrial hygiene field,” said Pieretti, who received his PhD from the college in 2010. “He really inspired me to be a better professional. The same applies to Drs. Thomas Bernard and Steve Mlynarek, who, even though I’ve graduated from the program, still provide valuable advice. When I started at the college, the language barrier was a big challenge,” Pieretti added. “However, the support and patience of the COPH faculty and staff helped me a lot. Walking the hallways of the COPH and having great relationships not only with the faculty but all the supporting staff made my journey more pleasurable.” 

“Walking the hallways of the COPH and having great relationships not only with the faculty but all the supporting staff made my journey more pleasurable.”

From student to industrial hygiene specialist

Pieretti has worked as an industrial hygiene specialist with the pharmaceutical giant Johnson and Johnson, a safety and health consultant for USF SafetyFlorida Consultation Program (which provides free, confidential, compliance assistance to Florida’s small, high-hazard and private-sector employers) and a private industrial hygiene consultant. 

Today, Pieretti is the manager of the industrial hygiene program at The MEMIC Group, a workers’ compensation carrier with corporate offices in Portland, Maine.

“I help policyholders prevent occupational injuries and enhance their current occupational safety and health programs,” Pieretti explained. “I am the first person occupying my current position, so it’s allowed me to have a blank slate to develop and implement the industrial hygiene policies and practices for the company. I love the fact that I still get to do exposure assessments and conduct research through the MEMIC Safety Research Center.”

Pieretti says his proudest professional accomplishment to date has been his selection to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) Board of Scientific Counselors and his work launching the MEMIC Safety Research Center, which debuted in Feb. 2021.

“The objectives of the research center are sponsoring and conducting research focused on the understanding and reduction of occupational injuries and illnesses,” Pieretti said. “We’re also developing and publishing information stemming from that safety research and serving as a bridge between business, academia and state entities by sharing resources for enhancing the knowledge of injury prevention.” The center will be awarding a grant of $30,000. You can read more about it here. 

What’s the future hold for Pieretti? He’s hoping for more opportunities to conduct and share (especially with public health students) research in the occupational safety and health field.

“What interests me the most about public health is the multidisciplinary approach it takes to solving problems,” Pieretti commented. “Complex issues have complex answers, and having a multidisciplinary approach is essential—not only to address the issues but also to communicate and educate affected stakeholders.”

“Complex issues have complex answers, and having a multidisciplinary approach is essential… .”

Alumni Fast Five

What did you dream of becoming when you were young?

A scientist.

Where can we find you on the weekends?

At home with my beloved wife and dog.

What is the last book you read?

“Warnings: Finding Cassandras to Stop Catastrophes,” by Richard A. Clarke and R.P. Eddy

What superpower would you like to have?

Teletransportation.

What’s your all-time favorite movie? 

“The Hunt for Red October.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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USF College of Public Health alumna Ivory Iheanacho MSPH ’14 recently co-authored a guidance document for the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) on “The Lens of Minority Populations in the Workplace During COVID-19.”

This peer-reviewed guidance document is a resource for organizations looking to apply an equity lens to their COVID-19 mitigation efforts. The document presents a data driven analysis of the disproportionate effect COVID-19 has had on minority populations in the US. Socioeconomic concerns are addressed including reduced access to telework options; higher numbers of multigenerational households; and an increased dependence on public transportation. Important health and safety recommendations are provided to protect worker health, including actions that support both the mental and emotional aspects of working during this pandemic.

In addition, the publication also includes an easy-to-follow self-inspection checklist that may help users identify whether their workforce is disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

Iheanacho is a Certified Industrial Hygienist who serves as an active member of AIHA. Read more about her achievements in occupational health and safety here.

Reposted from USF Health News

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The USF College of Public Health’s occupational exposure science program has been ranked 8^th in the top 20 best industrial hygiene degrees in public health for 2019 by MPH Online.

MPH Online is an independent online resource for public health students offering information and guidance regarding public health degrees. They weighted programs based on alumni salary, cost of the program, and reputation, according to Dr. Steve Mlynarek, professor of occupational exposure science (OES).

“Our alumni get excellent jobs and we have a good reputation,” Mlynarek said. “Our faculty, particularly Dr. Hammad and Dr. Bernard, are also known nationally and internationally and are very highly regarded.”

Mlynarek said alumni of the OES program have gone on to hold jobs with respected organizations including the Los Alamos National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau Veritas, and the U.S. Navy, and Intel to name a few.

“I’m very pleased we’re in the top 10,” he said. “I think there is a lot of subjectivity to all of these polls, but I think one of the good things to come out of it is that we will all pay attention now and work harder.”

The occupational exposure science field, formally known as industrial hygiene, is seeing a need for more public health professionals with this specialty, according to Mlynarek.

Those working in OES discipline focus on the chemical, physical, and biological agents and stressors in the workplace, and how they impact the health and safety of individuals, according to MPH Online.

The OES field is anticipated to grow by 8 percent through 2026, according to MPH Online, and Dr. Mlynarek agrees with that assessment.

“The world is getting more complicated; there is more development and use of exotic chemicals, there is more use of nanoparticles and other possible hazards that need to be assessed and controlled,” Mlynarek said.

OES program alumna Adelmarie Bones, the vice president of an environmental health and safety consulting firm in Polk County, Fla., said she’s not surprised to see the program ranked so highly on the list.

“I was very proud and happy to see that COPH emphasizes and teaches us that all our decisions and recommendations within the professional setting must research-based,” she said. “COPH actively trains their students to manage their personal beliefs into objective point of views for the benefit of the population as a whole.”

Alumnus Kyle Vogel, a safety and industrial hygiene professional for the city and county of Denver, said employees rarely take the time to consider how exposures to harmful agents in the workplace will affect their health years from now.

“Getting to educate employees about hazards in their work environment and make changes to processes that help keep them safe is something I truly love about my career,” he said.

Vogel said he appreciated that the program provided a challenging, but supportive atmosphere.

“The people I went through the program with remain some of my closest friends and are colleagues that I can always reach out to when dealing with a difficult problem at my job,” he said. “I wholeheartedly recommend the USF COPH for anyone pursuing graduate studies in environmental and occupational health.”

Story by Anna Mayor, USF College of Public Health

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