UCLA COEH is associated with a variety of innovative research centers and programs. Each program adds to the broad knowledge base of COEH related to current issues of environmental and occupational health.
Center for Healthy Climate Solutions
The UCLA Center for Healthy Climate Solutions (C-Solutions) is co-directed by Dr. Michael Jerrett. The C-Solutions team helps communities adapt and respond to the adverse health effects of climate change, turning public health research into actionable policies and practices and aiming to equip decision makers with site-specific solutions that tangibly benefit their community’s health, economy, and environment while reducing existing inequalities.
For more information about the Center, visit: https://healthyclimatesolutions.org/
Center for the Study of Parkinson’s Disease and Related Disorders
The UCLA Center for the Study of Parkinson’s Disease (CSPD) is co-directed by UCLA COEH faculty member Beate Ritz, MD, PhD. The UCLA CSPD encompasses several multi-disciplinary and collaborative programs, focused on various aspects of Parkinson’s disease onset and progression. There are five main research programs incorporated in the CSPD, including the UCLA Parkinson’s Environment and Gene Study, directed by Dr. Beate Ritz.
For more information about the Center, visit: http://www.cspd.ucla.edu/
Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program
Founded in 1978, the Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program (LOSH) is a nationally recognized center addressing cutting edge issues that affect worker health and safe work environments. Close to 5,000 workers lose their lives annually from traumatic work injuries and an estimated 50,000 workers die from work illnesses including chronic lung disease, cancer and infectious disease. An estimated$250 billion in costs for medical care and lost productivity are borne by workers, their families and communities, employers and society. LOSH programs – teaching and education, community-based research, and policy advocacy to promote work and health equity– are designed in collaboration with workers, unions, community organizations, employers, academics, students, governmental representatives, and health professionals. Initiatives include public health classes, education and community research with low-income, minority, immigrant and young workers; capacity-building and technical assistance to support health promotora programs, small businesses and worker engagement in workplace-based labor-management health and safety programs; advocacy to inform key policies such as prevention of heat illness and workplace violence and promotion of worker engagement in the policy arena; and participation in industry-wide research relating to occupational and environmental health policy issues in California.
UCLA-LOSH is also the lead organization of the four-member Western Region Universities HazMat Training Consortium with programs that reach from Los Angeles’ back yard south to Mexico, north to Alaska and west to the Pacific Islands. Programs include safe cleanup and handling of hazardous materials and wastes, disaster prevention and response, and workforce development for green jobs – with a focus on capacity-building among underserved groups and those in isolated regions.
LOSH is affiliated with the COEH and with UCLA’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE). For more information about LOSH, visit: http://losh.ucla.edu/
Institute for Society and Genetics
Real-world problems of the 21st century consistently involve both biological and societal processes. The UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics (ISG) is unique among American institutions by incorporating scientists fully in the process of understanding ethical, legal, and societal impacts of the applications of their genetic and genomic research. ISG aims to educate the public to understand, discuss, and make informed decisions about issues in biotechnology, genetics and genomics.
For more information about the Institute, visit: http://socgen.ucla.edu/
Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
The Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IoES)is a multi-disciplinary institute working to address critical environmental challenge locally, nationally and internationally. The IoES has research centers focused on conservation science, air pollution exposure, climate change, coastal issues, tropical research and an urban center for people and the environment. Within the IoES, the Leaders in Sustainability program provides a mechanism for graduate students at UCLA to pursue their interests in sustainability and collaborate with students from different fields.
With eight research centers and partnerships throughout the UCLA network, IoES achieves national and global reach. IoES works hand in hand with groups across campus, such as the Emmett Institute on Climate Change, the Luskin Center for Public Policy and the Graduate School of Education. These cooperative efforts allow diverse teamsto focus on today’s most urgent problems.
For more information about the Institute, visit: http://www.ioes.ucla.edu/
Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center currently operates eight research programs organized to foster excellence in interdisciplinary and collaborative research across academic units. Each program provides a platform for colleagues with similar scientific interests, allowing them to exchange information and ideas, facilitate and promote their research interactions and provide access to shared resources. Their programs include: Cancer and Stem Cell Biology; Cancer Molecular Imaging; Cancer Nanotechnology; Gene Regulation; Healthy and At-Risk Populations; Patients and Survivors; Signal Transduction and Therapies; and Tumor Immunology.
For more information about the Center, visit: http://www.cancer.ucla.edu/cancer-treatment-and-research
Southern California Education and Research Center
The Southern California Education and Research Center (ERC) is one of 18 multidisciplinary centers in the United States supported by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for education and research in the field of occupational health.
The Southern California Center is administratively housed in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. The Center supports graduate degree programs in Occupational Medicine at UC Irvine, and Occupational Health Nursing and Industrial Hygiene at UCLA. For these programs, the Center provides student support (fees and stipends for US citizens or permanent residents) and infrastructure support.
The Center supports approximately 40 graduate students in the field of occupational health. It provides a focus for multidisciplinary research in the broad field of occupational health. It also supports Continuing Education and Outreach Programs, and a Pilot Project Research Training Program for Occupational Safety and Health trainees. The Center is closely linked with the Centers for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH) at UCLA and UC Irvine.
For more information about the Center, visit: http://erc.ucla.edu/
Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center
The Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center (the Center) was established in 1996 to promote environmental health research in Southern California. The Center aims to more fully characterize environmental health hazards, understand the basis for personal vulnerability, and translate research into preventive action to reduce the burden of environmentally-related diseases.
The center is organized into an Administrative Core, four Research Cores, two Facility Cores and a Community Outreach and Education Core. This consortium of epidemiologists, statisticians, chemists, toxicologists, and molecular biologists collaborate to create an interdisciplinary approach to the study and advancement of research in environmental health. The Center also hosts a Pilot Projects Program and a Career Development Program which assist investigators in advancing their research are in understanding environmental contributions to respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other health outcomes.
For more information about the center, visit https://scehsc.usc.edu/
UCLA Core Technology Centers
This Center was created in 2015 to allow UCLA researchers to access expertise across all UCLA technology disciplines. One such facility housed in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences is the UCLA Inductively Coupled Plasma –Mass Spectrometry Facility directed by Professor Shane Que Hee. It is a fee-for-service entity for analysis of metals and specific elements simultaneously at ppb-ppm levels. For more information, visit: https://ehs.ph.ucla.edu/news/item?item_id=8708 and http://www.cores.ucla.edu/cores-instrumentation-page/?core=UCLA+ICP-MS+Facility