Faculty in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences have created a wide range of collaborations within the School of Public Health, across the University of Minnesota, and with a number of partners in the public and private sector.  These connections create excellent opportunities for students to draw on the multidisciplinary expertise in public health science and practice.

Faculty in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences are directly active in the following centers.

Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy
The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy is a global leader in addressing public health preparedness and emerging infectious disease response.  The Center works to prevent illness and death from targeted infectious disease threats through research and the translation of scientific information into real-world, practical applications, policies and solutions.

Minnesota Food Safety Center of Excellence
In 2012, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designated Minnesota as one of five Integrated Food Safety Centers of Excellence.   The Minnesota Integrated Food Safety Center is committed to improving training, research, continuing education, and outreach related to food safety and the prevention of foodborne illness. In particular, it works to identify and implement best practices in foodborne illness surveillance and outbreak investigation, and serves as a resource for government public health professionals who respond to foodborne illness outbreaks.

Masonic Cancer Center
A comprehensive cancer center designated by the National Cancer Institute. The Masonic Cancer Center, founded in 1991, is a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of only 47 institutions in the United States and two in Minnesota to hold that designation.

Minnesota Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP)
MnTAP helps businesses develop and implement industry-tailored solutions that prevent pollution at the source, maximize efficient use of resources, and reduce energy use and costs to improve public health and the environment.

Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center (UMASH)
UMASH is one of nine Centers of Excellence in Agricultural Disease and Injury Research, Education, and Prevention funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).  The center is a collaboration of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and College of Veterinary Medicine, the National Farm Medicine Center of the Marshfield Clinic with the Migrant Clinicians Network, and the Minnesota Department of Health. UMASH Brings together unique and complementary expertise to address existing and emerging occupational health and safety issues in agriculture.

Midwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety
Since 1977, the Midwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety (MCOHS) has actively served the Midwest by offering graduate training programs and continuing education courses in the field of occupational health and safety. This Education and Research Center, one of 18 nationwide, was designed in response to a mandate of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to provide an adequate supply of qualified personnel to carry out the purposes of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and reduce the national burden of work-related injury and illness.

Provides graduate academic and research training programs, continuing education and outreach activities, and serves as a regional resource for industry, labor, federal, state and local government agencies, agriculture, and other interested parties.

Midwest Consortium for Hazardous Waste Worker Training
The Midwest Consortium for Hazardous Waste Worker Training has been funded since 1987 by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to develop, present, and evaluate model training programs for workers and residents who may be exposed to hazardous substances, and to help employers comply with federal regulations. This programming is delivered by 13 training centers in 9 states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

Exposure Science and Sustainability Institute
The Exposure Science and Sustainability Institute (ESSI) was founded in 2015 by Dr. Susan Arnold and Dr. Gurumurthy Ramachandran to provide excellence in Exposure Science and Sustainability research and training, responding to industry identified needs.  The Institute’s activities include both services and products that help address specific research questions and provide specific deliverables to pre-defined customers.

In addition to the resources within the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, there are several centers in the School of Public Health and across the University of Minnesota that our faculty collaborate closely with.

Center for Animal Health and Food Safety
The Center for Animal Health and Food Safety (CAHFS) improves global animal health, food safety, and public health by providing risk assessments and policy summaries, facilitating collaborative research, responding to emerging foreign animal diseases, building veterinary public health capacity, and delivering relevant outreach.

Institute on the Environment
The Institute on the Environment’s (IonE) mission is to lead the way toward a future in which people and the environment prosper together.  IonE pursues research-based solutions to the biggest challenges of the 21st century related to climate adaptation, energy, food and land use, freshwater, urban resilience, whole systems and more. We team the brightest minds from across the University and beyond with emerging leaders in science, technology, business, education, policy and other areas to envision and create enduring positive change around the world.

Food Protection and Defense Institute
The Food Protection and Defense Institute (FPDI), formerly known as the National Center for Food Protection and Defense, was officially launched as a Homeland Security Center of Excellence in July 2004 at the University of Minnesota. Developed as a multidisciplinary and action-oriented research consortium, FPDI addresses the vulnerability of the nation’s food system. FPDI takes a comprehensive, farm-to-table view of the food system, encompassing all aspects from primary production through transportation and food processing to retail and food service.