Center for Environmental Stressors on Occupational Safety and Health
Keeping workers and their communities safe, healthy, and productive in the midst of changing work environments.
The Center for Environmental Stressors on Occupational Safety and Health is an interdisciplinary group of researchers and public health practitioners whose mission is to play a proactive role in identifying and promoting resilient workplaces, workforces, and communities. We are dedicated to keeping workers and their families safe, healthy, and productive by preventing and reducing health impacts from the effects of changing work environments and exposures.
This center emphasizes research and educational opportunities that gather passionate individuals eager to make change in this field.
The team
Francesca Macaluso DrPH, MPH
Instructor
- Center for Health, Work & Environment
- Community Epidemiology & Program Evaluation
- Department of Environmental & Occupational Health
Dr. Francesca Macaluso is a research scientist at the Colorado School of Public Health’s Centers for Health, Work & Environment and Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. She has supported a diverse portfolio of research projects ranging from environmental and climate-related exposures and human health impacts in southwestern Colorado to tobacco and cannabis use behaviors and novel exposures from vaping products. Her dissertation work, completed in Spring 2025, focused on health risks of Colorado market cannabis products, secondhand aerosol exposures from vaping, and opportunities for growth in Colorado’s tobacco and cannabis policy and regulatory landscapes. In her current role, she leads investigations of state surveillance data on tobacco use and other health behaviors in partnership with the State Tobacco Education and Prevention Partnership. Her work emphasizes the importance of understanding motivations for tobacco and cannabis use and the intricacies of these behaviors in order to predict long-term health impacts and develop appropriate prevention programming and public policy.
Areas of Expertise
- Vaping behaviors and novel exposures from vaping products
- Cannabis and nicotine co-use and long-term trends
- Tobacco/nicotine and cannabis policy (Colorado)
- Impacts of climate change on human health
Education, Licensure & Certifications
- DrPH, Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO
- MPH, Environmental Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
- BS, Environmental Science, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Students
Courses
Climate and worker health class, runs in the Spring.
Capstone & practicum
Stay tuned for more details on these projects.
PhD candidates
The Environment + Worker Health and Safety Targeted Research Training (TRT) program supports future leaders in the field of environment 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. 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.