Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School ranked #1 in Environmental Health Sciences by peers in U.S. News & World Report

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The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has been ranked #1 in the nation in Environmental Health Sciences, as measured by U.S. News & World Report. The ranking represents the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering’s leadership in programs and courses in the discipline of environmental health.

This year’s U.S. News & World Report rankings include 206 public health schools and programs accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health. The U.S. News rankings survey, which is sent to leaders of the accredited schools and programs, is based on a single question about the academic quality of each public health school or program. The previous rankings were published in 2022. 

“It is an honor to be recognized by our peers for our work and we are committed to continuing to tackle the most pressing environmental health issues of the day.”
Marsha Wills-Karp, Department Chair

“It is an honor to be recognized by our peers for our work and we are committed to continuing to tackle the most pressing environmental health issues of the day,” says Marsha Wills-Karp, Department Chair and Anna M. Baetjer Professor In Environmental Health. “We have made tremendous progress this past year in areas including air and water quality, health security, chemical safety, transportation, climate change, transportation, and workers' health." 

Here are a few highlights from the past year:

  • The Department established CHARMED (Community Health: Addressing Regional Maryland Environmental Determinants of Disease), under a $5.6 million Community Health Engagement Core Center grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The Center will lead an effort to build capacity in community-engaged research aimed at understanding the mechanistic links between environmental exposures and adverse health outcomes and translate these findings into action to improve the health of vulnerable individuals in communities across the greater Maryland region.
  • Our faculty conducted groundbreaking research on PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” which are pervasive in our country’s drinking water and have detrimental effects on human and environmental health.
  • Shima Hamidi was selected by the U.S. Department of Transportation to lead a $10 million University Transportation Center focused on solutions aimed at preserving the environment, the Center for Climate-Smart Transportation.
  • Researchers with the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) advanced the promise of 'organoid intelligence,' which could one-day yield computers that are faster, more efficient, and more powerful than silicon-based computing and AI.
  • EHE experts provided expertise in major news outlets including the BBC, NPR, the Washington Post, and The Guardian regarding the train derailment in Palestine, Ohio, and the toxic pollution that ensued.

"We are proud and honored to be recognized as the leading environmental health sciences program,” says Wills-Karp. “We continue to strive to protect the health of people and the environment through our research and education of the next generation of environmental scientists.”

Environmental Health and Engineering is a cross-divisional department spanning the Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Whiting School of Engineering. This hybrid department is uniquely designed to lead pioneering research and prepare the next generation of scholars to solve critical and complex issues at the interface of public health and engineering. Learn more about our programs.