The Occupational Health Program

Our Mission

The mission of the Occupational Health Program is to prevent occupational and environmental injury, disease and related disabilities by:

• caring for patients injured or made sick by work or the environment
• educating medical students, practicing physicians and other public health professionals
• advocating for occupational health in the public arena,
• providing outreach services to the community and finally by
• researching the prevention of occupational injuries.

The Occupational Health Program began in 1986 as a collaboration between the Department of Medicine and the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at the University of Maryland Medical School.

Our Occupational Medicine clinic, staffed by an interdisciplinary team, provides clinical care to patients with work, home or environmentally related illnesses. Worker education, workplace investigations and public health interventions are a key part of the clinical care we offer. We also provide medical surveillance for workers from various industry sectors.

Our staff provides a variety of learning experiences for medical students, residents and nursing students, as well as students in law, social work, pharmacy and dentistry. These experiences include clinical rotations, lectures, small group discussions and guided worksite visits. The Occupational Health Program also develops educational programs for workers, unions, employers and other health care professionals in the community needing more information about occupational and environmental health.

The program has been involved in research on the causes, risk factors, management and prevention of occupational injuries and illnesses, including upper extremity disorders, cancer, lead poisoning and depleted uranium. We believe that to prevent occupational injuries and illnesses, we first have to understand their causes and what affects their clinical course.

We look forward to future collaboration with the community and other partners in identifying, studying and preventing occupational and environmental illnesses the next century may bring.

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