First Year Doctoral Student Presents at Semiahmoo 2017

Amy's photo from the Semiahmoo
Conference in Blaine, WA.

Amy Edmonds, 1st year doctoral student in the Occupational Health Services Research (OHSR) program, attended the annual Semiahmoo Conference in January 2017. Each year students are invited to attend the conference, and many give presentations about their research.

Amy presented on her recent literature review that looked at the implications of low wages and limited benefits on health care and public health services.

“I was interested in occupational health disparities related to workplace benefits and wages, so I conducted a systematic review to examine papers that linked low wages and limited benefits to health and/or public health and healthcare services.”, said Edmonds. “Most people receive healthcare benefits through their employers – what happens to those who are making low wages and do not have employer-provided benefits? How do precarious working conditions, and the financial insecurity they are associated with, influence access to healthcare and health outcomes?”

Amy’s inquiry was inspired by the UW Future of Occupational Health project, which is being led by Dr. Noah Sexias and many others in DEOHS. She found that very few studies in her inquiry examined the relationship between low wages and limited benefits and population health and health services. Amy hopes to further explore the implications of precarious working conditions on health in a more targeted way.

The OHSR program Amy is currently enrolled in focuses on identifying the role of cultural, social, political, behavioral, and healthcare factors in health outcomes; on health promotion, health education, and injury and illness prevention; and on evaluating and improving the organization, delivery, financing, and management of health services. The OHSR program provides strong methodological training in health services research and health care policy analysis, coupled with substantive education related to occupational health and workplace health promotion.

The Winner's Circle - Semiahmoo Student Awardees

Every year at the Semiahmoo conference, students are recognized for their hard work and groundbreaking ideas. Several of this year's winners shared their success stories with the NWCOHS blog:

Greta Frey, a research assistant for the Superfund Research Program's Community Engagement Core (CEC), won a poster award for her community based participatory research on best practices when communicating and sharing data with tribal partners. Greta's work will allow the Superfund Research Program to work more effectively with tribal partners on key projects.

Fangfang Wang, a University of Washington Student, shared an award winning poster titled, "Effects of Whole Body Vibration on Truck Drivers' Reaction Times". In her study, Fangfang compared two air-ride truck seats in the field to determine whether or not exposure to whole body vibration is associated psychomotor fatigue and driver reaction times, common factors in commercial vehicle accidents.


Barrett Welch, an MPH student at Oregon State University, received the Ignite Award at this year's conference. Barrett's current research investigates national trends in arsenic exposure among the U.S. population and associations with changes in immunological markers of disease. Of his first Semiahmoo experience Barrett said, "I really enjoyed the atmosphere of collaboration and the diversity in [research] specialities. "



Connie Tzou (UW), not featured in this blog post, also received an award for her oral presentation.

The Semiahmoo Conference - from a student perspective

Every year the Semiahmoo Symposium on Environmental and Occupational Public Health brings together faculty, staff and students from The University of Washington, University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, Oregon State University, and the University of Victoria. The conference provides attendees with a forum to share new ideas and current or evolving research.

This year, several NWCOHS students attended the conference and shared their experiences:

Grant Quiller and Darrick Dickerson, both students in the exposure science MS program, experienced all of the excitement of Semiahmoo first hand.

Grant, a second year student, is currently working with DEOHS faculty members June Spector, PhD and Kris Ebi, PhD to research outdoor occupational heat exposures under the context of a changing climate.

"Climate change was a common theme presented throughout the conference" said Grant, "As we progress as public health professionals, climate change will impact our decisions and recommendations for both policy and prevention."

Darrick, a first year MS student, experienced Semiahmoo for the first time this year and described it as "an amazing experience for students and faculty to network with colleagues from all over the Pacific Northwest."

Darrick felt the conference was beneficial to his progress as a first year student because it allowed him to "form new ideas, hear about other people's research, ask questions, and establish friendships with students and faculty who share the common interest of public health."

Both students found the poster session to be a highlight of the conference. "It gave me a chance to ask in-depth questions, and have discussions that I couldn't have had during their regular presentations," said Darrick.

Student dispatch from 23rd Annual Semiahmoo Conference

On January 6th, 7th, and 8th of 2011, students, faculty, and staff from the University of Washington School of Public Health, the University of British Columbia School of Population and Public Health, and the Simon Fraser University Faculty of Health Sciences met at Semiahmoo in Blaine, WA for the 23rd Annual Occupational & Environmental Health Conference and the 6th Annual Public Health Symposium.

The conference was a great opportunity for students, program directors, and faculty from the United States and Canada to share their research and ideas with one another.

The highlight of the conference was when the Dean of the UW School of Public Health, Howard Frumkin, gave a very inspirational speech about planning for environmental public health in the future. He discussed some of the largest challenges facing new environmental health professionals in future years, and I would like to share some of his thoughtful insights:

1. Demographic Changes: The population is expected to dramatically increase and peak at 10 billion people worldwide. This could lead to public health issues regarding crowding, security, resources, and access to food. There will be new challenges regarding unemployment, job security, and income inequality. The world’s population is also becoming more diverse, as we are witnessing shifts to a population with no major ethic group. For example, in the United States, Spanish has been, and will be—a second language. As health care and living conditions improve, we will also see an increase in the aging population, and people will begin to retire at later stages in their life.
2. Scientific Advances: New ideas in information technology have made it possible to do electronic data management, share databases, and allowed personal access to information over the internet. This will allow researchers and professionals to rapidly report and collaborate on large projects. With rapidly advancing medical technology and the genomics revolution, we will see many advances in biomedical processes. For example, it has become possible to pin point the early life origins of late life disease (e.g. early chemical exposures, hygiene hypothesis). A new mindset has encouraged the development of green technologies, such as green chemistry, solar power, LED lights, composting/recycling, and plug in vehicles. However, each new technology should be evaluated for its safe use, production, and environmental impacts.
3. Environmental Change: Although previously debated, the issue of climate change is now very much a reality. This will lead to changes in atmospheric concentrations of CO2, O3, and other compounds, rising temperatures, and increasing sea levels; and the spread of pathogens and heat related disease to new locations. People will continue to relocate to the cities, as more than 50% of the world’s population will become urbanized. In addition, resource scarcities could increase as the weekly per capita energy consumption and demand for energy, water, food, and money increases.
4. Disease: Primary prevention will be the most important tool in fighting the diseases of the future. Although infectious disease will be a concern, the shift to chronic disease and injuries. It will be important to track health disparities.

Jenna Armstrong is a PhD student in the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences in the School of Public Health at the University of Washington. Jenna was a NIOSH-supported trainee of the NWCOHS during the 2009-2010 academic year. Find more information on Jenna, as well as some of her other posts here.