One of the major goals of the OETP is to develop or enhance the Occupational Epidemiology skills for a variety of health disciplines including, occupational health, industrial hygiene, health physics, occupational health nursing, safety engineering, medicine, environmental epidemiology, toxicology, environmental science, and occupational injury. In some cases, M.S. trainees may wish to further their education by entering a PhD or MD program in the College of Public Health or the College of Medicine at the University of Iowa with a subsequent career in research, teaching, medicine, or administration.
MS and Foundational PhD Educational Objectives
Upon completion of the MS degree in the OETP, a graduate will have demonstrated achievement of the following objectives:
- To understand epidemiologic principles including: design and analysis of case-control and cohort studies, historical and current examples of descriptive and analytic epidemiologic studies, occupational etiologic factors in human disease and the determinants of disease in man.
- To understand the principles and integration of the practice of occupational medicine, industrial hygiene and safety, occupational health nursing, ergonomics and occupational health management as related to Occupational Epidemiology.
- To critically read research articles in occupational epidemiology.
- To understand the most frequently used epidemiologic study designs and how to apply them to occupational epidemiology.
- To assess contemporary human health issues associated with the biological, chemical and physical factors in the occupational environment and to perform a critical review of occupational factors that affect health.
- To develop a research plan in occupational epidemiology.
- To implement a research plan by collecting and appropriately analyzing data.
- To disseminate research results, both orally and in writing.
- To provide training and teach workshops in occupational epidemiology.
- To understand and demonstrate the use of statistical analyses including: graphs and tables, descriptive statistics, probability, binomial and normal distributions, sampling distributions, tests of significance, confidence intervals, frequency data analysis, linear regression and correlation and nonparametric tests.
- To discuss and identify the sources, routes of entry, and effects of occupational and environmental toxicants and their effects on humans; as well as the pathophysiology of toxicant actions, including those of air and water pollutants, metals, pesticides, solvents, mycotoxins, food toxicants and other chemicals.
Research Training –Doctoral Level
OETP doctoral fellows will complete core courses that combine the curricular requirements of the departments and will conduct original research. The fellowship research will be guided by nationally recognized faculty and can include collaborations throughout the University as well as with governmental, public, private, and community partners.
National and Regional Need for Occupational Epidemiologists
The American workforce is becoming more diverse in age, gender, race and nationality and the work products are moving from goods to services. In addition, a significant percentage of workers are moving from large fixed industries to small firms, temporary jobs, or working at home. Because many workers have moved from large employers, additional occupational epidemiology specialists are needed to identify the health effects of traditional work place hazards as well as new ones created by the ever changing duties and potential hazards that evolve over time. The need for trained occupational epidemiologist is even greater in the Midwest, where fewer training programs exist.
The OETP seeks to provide new entry level occupational epidemiologists to serve the occupational-related health needs of the region’s and nation’s workforce. In addition, the program endeavors to provide useful skills for a variety of health professions, including occupational health, industrial hygiene, health physics, occupational health nursing, safety engineering, medicine, environmental epidemiology, toxicology, environmental science, and others.
Research Opportunities
The UI College of Public Health (CPH) is a rich environment for graduate student research, with faculty members' active research programs providing valuable opportunities. OEPT fellows are encouraged to select dissertation topics that are a component of or parallel to currently funded studies by CPH faculty.
Examples of currently funded occupational epidemiologic studies:
Iowa Army Ammunitions Plant (IAAAP) Study
The broad objective of this project is to examine the mortality experience for 35,000 munitions workers employed at the IAAAP in Middletown, Iowa between 1952 and 2002 with a nested study examining the cancer incidence for a restricted population within the cohort. The prevalence of individuals testing positive on BeLPT for a subset of the cohort will also be assessed with comparisons between a priori defined high and low Be exposed groups as well as a possible comparison to an external comparable, but non-Be exposed workforce if funded. The workforce is known to have engaged in work processes that involve the use of carcinogens and others toxicants. In some cases, the potential exposure occurred even before it was clearly known the chemical or metal had the potential to cause adverse health outcomes, hence exposures historically may have been considerably higher than currently permitted. The proposed research will provide insights into whether or not the wide scope of munitions work performed at the IAAAP contributed to them.
The Agricultural Health Study (AHS)
This major research project follows over 89,000 individuals participating in the project. The study is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (specifically the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences) and the Environmental Protection Agency and is being carried out through the efforts of collaborators at the University of Iowa and Battelle Centers for Public Health Research and Evaluation.
The Agricultural Health Study, which began in 1994, explores potential causes of cancer and other diseases among farmers and their families and among commercial pesticide applicators. These occupations are thought to have higher rates of some cancers, including leukemia, myeloma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and cancers of the lip, stomach, skin, brain, and prostate. Other conditions, like asthma, neurologic disease, and adverse reproductive outcomes may also be related to agricultural exposures. The Agricultural Health Study is designed to identify occupational, lifestyle, and genetic factors that may affect the rate of diseases in farming populations. Because of the prospective nature of this study, opportunities for research and funding of related studies will exist well into the future.
