Climate & Worker Health Targeted Research Training Program
Program overview
The Climate & Worker Health Targeted Research Training (TRT) program supports future leaders in the field of climate and workforce health by receiving high-quality education and research training in addressing the short- and long-term impacts of climate change on occupational health. The program emphasizes populations experiencing disparities in exposure and adaptation measures including rural, migrant and precariously employed, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), Latino/a, and aging workforces.
The Climate & Worker Health TRT is a program run across two institutions: the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Colorado and Colorado State University. The Mountain & Plains Education and Research Center (MAP ERC) financially supports qualified students in the program. The MAP ERC is one of 18 National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) Education and Research Centers in the country. Students supported by the center collaborate with trainees in ergonomics, occupational and environmental medicine, industrial hygiene, health physics programs, Total Worker Health® on interdisciplinary research, scholarly projects, and in-depth field assessments at local industry sites. Trainees in this program will join a forward-thinking faculty and student cohort to address one of the most urgent challenges we face today in public health.
Program Director & Associate Director
Katherine James PhD, MSPH, MSCE
Associate Professor
- Center for Health, Work & Environment
- Community Epidemiology & Program Evaluation
- Department of Environmental & Occupational Health
- Department of Epidemiology
Dr. James is an epidemiologist and engineer who specializes in environmental and climate risk factors and health in vulnerable populations. She has experience in leading and conducting community-based research projects including NIEHS funded studies investigating exposure to metals (arsenic and cadmium) and cardiometabolic and kidney diseases. Her research was one of the first to show associations with low-level arsenic exposure (<50 µg/L) with direct relevance to the exposure range of the US population. Dr. James also completed a Faculty Development Investigator Award through the Denver Children’s Environmental Health Center at National Jewish Health investigating the association between air quality and respiratory burden in the San Luis Valley and recently led a CDC funded biomonitoring tracking grant in a pediatric population in the San Luis Valley measuring exposures to 17 metals, pyrethroids, phthalates, and other pesticides through urine and water samples. Dr. James is also the PI for The Attitudes and Behaviors Study a repeated population-based survey of tobacco and marijuana use and other public health issues.
Education, Licensure & Certifications
- PhD University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Epidemiology, 2010
- MS University of Colorado, Boulder, Civil/Environmental Engineering, 2002
- MSPH University of Colorado, Health Sciences Center, Public Health, 2000
- BS Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Biological Systems Engineering, 1996
Awards
- 2019: Selected for the NIH/NSF sponsored Data Innovation Lab on Environmental Health in Rural Populations
- 2013: Selected for the Early Career Women in Medicine Leadership Conference July 2013
- 2012: Faculty Development Award Children’s Environmental Health Center, National Jewish Hospital
- 2011: American Academy of Neurology Conference, Selected as a top abstract for presentation by the scientific chair, Dr. Stefan Pulst, in the “Scientific Program Highlights Plenary Session”.
- 2000: Awarded Travel Scholarship Royal Society Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to travel to the Republic of Mauritius for environmental research and training.
- 1999: Dennis Burkitt Fellowship from the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Who should apply?
Current doctoral students in any year of their program from the following fields:
- Climate scientists
- Epidemiologists
- Statisticians
- Occupational safety and health experts
- Psychologists
- Public health professionals
- Laboratory researchers
Curriculum
Stipend
| PG Year | Stipend 2023-2024 |
| 1 | $2,196 |
| 2 | $2,196 |
*NRSA will publish new stipend amounts for the upcoming year in June 2023.
Frequently asked questions
Faculty
University of Colorado
- John Adgate, PhD, MSPH | Professor, EOH
- Alison Bauer, PhD | Associate Professor, EOH
- Jared Brown, PhD | Professor, Toxicology
- Jaime Butler-Dawson, PhD, MPH | Assistant Professor, EOH
- Elizabeth Carlton, PhD, MPH | Associate Professor, EOH
- James Crooks, PhD | Clinical Associate Professor, Epidemiology
- Kristopher Karnauskas, PhD | Associate Professor, EOH
- Liliana Tenney, DrPH | Assistant Professor, EOH
- Courtney Welton-Mitchell, PhD | Assistant Professor, EOH
Colorado State University
- Ashley Anderson, PhD | Associate Professor, Journalism & Media Communications
- William Brazile, PhD, CIH | Associate Professor, Environmental & Radiological Health Sciences
- Ellison Carter, PhD | Assistant Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering
- Gwenith Fisher, PhD | Associate Professor, Psychology
- Debbie Lee, PhD | Assistant Professor, Environmental & Radiological Health Sciences
- Christian L’Orange, PhD | Assistant Research Professor, Mechanical Engineering
- Luke Montrose, PhD | Assistant Professor, Environmental & Radiological Health Sciences
- Andreas Neophytou, ScD | Assistant Professor, Environmental & Radiological Health Sciences
- David Rojas-Rueda, MD, MPH, PhD | Assistant Professor, Epidemiology
- Joshua Schaeffer, PhD, MS, CIH | Associate Professor, Environmental & Radiological Health Sciences
- Dimitris Stevis, PhD | Professor, Political Science
This program is supported by a Training Grant T42 OH009229 with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health as part of one of 18 national Education and Research Centers.