Occupational and Environmental Medicine Residency

Program Details

Established in 1978 to address a need for physicians with skills to protect the health of working populations, the program is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education(link is external) and prepares physicians for board certification by the American Board of Preventive Medicine(link is external). The program is located in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Bloomberg School. It is also a component of the Johns Hopkins Education and Research Center for Occupational Safety and Health(link is external) which is funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health(link is external).

The overall objective of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Residency (OEMR) is to train physicians for careers in any of the major sectors of occupational and environmental medicine—clinical practice, academia, industry, government (including military), consulting, or labor—and provide expertise in both clinical and population health aspects of the field.

The program offers the unparalleled opportunity to obtain a Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and practical experiences at key training sites throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Rotations include clinical sites, employer-based sites, regulatory agencies, labor unions, corporations and government sites.

Although listed as a residency by the ACGME, many of our trainees have previously completed training in other fields and are board-certified or board-eligible in other specialties, such as internal, family or emergency medicine.

Graduates of the program strive to prevent and manage injury, illness and disability, and promote the health and productivity of workers, their families and communities. This includes individual patient care as well as population health management, and many go on to be leaders in the field.

MPH Coursework

The goal of the MPH degree is to provide trainees with knowledge and skills central to the practice of occupational and environmental medicine.

Our residents undergo an exceptional educational experience as MPH students at the Bloomberg School, which is the oldest and largest school of public health in the world.

They routinely study in a multidisciplinary environment that includes occupational nurses, industrial hygienists, safety professionals, doctoral students, and preventive medicine residents. They work with world-renowned faculty and a diverse student body, gaining the skills and knowledge necessary to prepare them to become leaders in occupational and environmental medicine—and to further advance the effort to eliminate disease and reduce disability.

Required Courses

The curriculum takes full advantage of the depth and breadth of faculty and courses at the Bloomberg School. The core curriculum includes:

  • Fundamentals of Occupational Health
  • Clinical Environmental and Occupational Toxicology
  • Occupational Health (worksite evaluation) course
  • Principles Of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
  • Public Health Toxicology
  • Environmental Health
  • Occupational Medicine Seminar series
  • Principles of Occupational Safety
  • Introduction to Ergonomics
  • Fundamentals of Clinical Preventive Medicine

There are also MPH required courses (e.g., epidemiology, biostatistics and management). The epidemiology and biostatistics offerings in the Bloomberg School are particularly rich and residents are encouraged to complete as many of these courses as possible, with a minimum of two courses in each.

Electives

Required courses are augmented by a wide variety of electives including:

  • Public Health Practice
  • Introduction to Radiation Health Sciences
  • Epidemiology of Injuries
  • Molecular Biology of Carcinogenesis
  • Toxicokinetics, Molecular Epidemiology and Biomarkers in Public Health
  • Noise and Other Physical Agents in the Environment
  • Health Effects of Indoor and Outdoor Air Pollution
  • International Health
  • Environmental and Occupational Health Law And Policy
  • The Global Environment and Public Health
  • Foundations of Leadership
  • Communicating with the Media

Seminar Series

The didactic component of the program consists of a weekly seminar series throughout the two years of the residency.

The goals of the didactic component are:

  1. To supplement the academic phase of the program with clinical material specific to occupational/environmental medicine;
  2. To supplement the resident’s practicum experience with didactic material from the core OM competencies; and
  3. To provide a vehicle for the evaluation of resident progress and achievement in research and practice across the two years of the program.

Conferences include research presentations, Exposure Sciences and Environmental Epidemiology Journal Club and Seminars(link is external), the Occupational Medicine Seminar series and grand rounds.


Practicum Rotations

Practicum rotations provide residents and fellows with exposure to a range of important settings in occupational and environmental health.

Residents are given a unique opportunity to apply their skills to real-world problems including occupational injuries and illnesses, disability management, employee health and wellness, environmental exposures, and other emerging occupational and environmental medicine issues.

Core Rotations

Elective Rotations

A wide range of elective choices are available to allow trainees to optimize the program to fit their career objectives. Some options are listed below:

Corporate Sites

  • Center for Occupational and Environmental Neurology (COEN)
  • Erickson Retirement Communities Employee Health and Wellness Centers
  • Chevron

Clinical Sites

  • CorpOHS(link is external)
  • Occupational Health Consultants
  • Mercy Occupational Health Clinic
  • DC Police and Fire Clinic
  • Baltimore VA Medical Center
  • Concentra
  • Naval Health Clinic, Pearl Harbor, HI
  • Naval Health Clinic, Annapolis, MD

Government Sites

  • NIOSH
  • Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
  • USDA-AFIS
  • Food and Drug Administration

Other Elective Sites

  • Bloomberg School's Center for Public Health Preparedness
  • Bloomberg School's Center for A Livable Future
  • Research rotations
  • International rotations

Research Component

One of the unique opportunities of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Training Program is the research requirement.

Applicants are encouraged to come with research interests. Projects may involve collaboration with our faculty or with other faculty in the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.

This component gives residents the opportunity to develop advanced research skills that are useful in a broad range of subsequent careers. Numerous presentation and publication opportunities result from the research requirement.