The goal of the Northern California ERC, a consortium of programs of the University of California, is to train professionals as practitioner and research leaders in occupational safety and health by offering graduate degrees, residency training, clinical experiences, and research mentorship to trainees.
The aim of the ERC is to provide a broad, multidisciplinary education experience involving student and faculty collaborations in the classroom and on research and service projects. Activities are grounded in multi-campus, interactive teaching programs that translate knowledge into information that can be used to improve worker safety and health. In addition, through the Confining Education, Hazardous Substances Training, and Outreach components of the Labor Occupational Health Program, the ERC provides continuing education courses and outreach activities to other health professionals. The Center aims to provide an educational bridge from the University to external constituencies to ensure that practicing professionals, workers, their representatives, supervisors, and other educators benefit from the University's occupational health and safety expertise. The ERC strives to integrate an occupational safety and health perspective in all of its activities, including such activities as the STEER program, summer internships funded by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, designed to encourage students to consider further study in one of the ERC programs. The Northern California ERC trains professionals in the following areas: Industrial Hygiene (UC Berkeley) - MPH, MS, PhD degrees Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing (UCSF) - MS, PhD degrees Occupational and Environmental Medicine (UCSF) - Residency Training, MPH degrees Ergonomics (joint program at UCB/UCSF) - MS/MPH, PhD degrees Occupational Epidemiology (UC Berkeley) - MS, PhD degrees (proposed program) Targeted Research Training (joint program at UCB/UCSF).
The aim of the ERC training program is to produce graduates with strong problem solving skills and the ability to synthesize diverse information in order to effectively address both typical and unusual problems that arise in the technically, institutionally, and culturally complex workplaces that characterize the current economy. Issues facing low-wage and immigrant workers are particularly important to the ERC, as are health and safety issues in emerging sectors such as green jobs.
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