Training for Health Justice

Applications for a new round of the Environmental Scholars Program are open to all UCSF students who have at least 2 years remaining in their enrollment, due by 9/30/26. The fellowship is a paid opportunity to engage at the intersections of health, place, community and environment.

My interest in environmental health stems from my involvement with the Environmental Research and Translation for Health (EaRTH) Center’s environmental health and justice Mini-Immersion course in my first year of medical school, which centered on discussions of Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), environmental justice, and health practitioner advocacy. 

In that experience, I was made aware of the pervasiveness of PFAs in the drinking supply of communities of color, its significant association with adverse health outcomes like chronic illnesses, industry obfuscation, as well as federal and state negligence in protecting Black, Indigenous, People of Color and low-income communities. 

These dialogues with researchers like Dr. Rashmi Joglekar, and Dr. Nick Chartres, and providers like Dr. Marya Zlatnik emboldened me to continue intentional reflection on how I can engage in clinician-driven environmental health justice advocacy and contribute to research and work on the impact of environmental health exposures in underserved communities. 

In that same time span, I attended an Environmental Justice Tour in December where I learned about the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, and heard from founder Ms. Margaret Gordon on the poor air quality concerns West Oakland community members face due to emissions from port terminal operations, warehouses, heavy-duty diesel vehicles, metal finishers, waste treatment plants, rail yards, and freeways. 

I decided, based on these experiences, to apply to the EaRTH Center Environmental Scholars Program. Through the Environmental Scholars Program (ESP), I had the privilege of working with the Richmond Shoreline Alliance (RSA). 

The RSA is a community-run organization that has advocated for the rights of Richmond residents and called for the clean-up of soil and water pollution along the Richmond shoreline. 

The group has largely focused on calling attention to the substandard clean-up of the Superfund-qualified Zeneca site. In the late 1800s and continuing through most of the 1900s, Stauffer Chemical, later acquired by Zeneca Inc., manufactured chemicals on Richmond’s southeast shoreline. 

Their operations left behind more than half a million cubic yards of contaminated soil containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs), metals, and pesticides. A shutdown and clean-up was ordered in the late 1990s, but the clean-up was insufficient.

With a growing concern for rising groundwater levels caused by sea level rise, there is a real risk that contaminants from the Zeneca site can spread into surrounding communities. My work as an ESP scholar was focused on summarizing the health effects of the chemicals identified on the Zeneca site. 

That work involved reviewing carcinogen classifications and health risk sections of Zeneca chemicals on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the International Agency for Research on Cancer websites. That information, along with investigations on ways to reduce the risk of exposure, was shared with RSA and Richmond residents in digestible formats. 

Members of the Richmond Shoreline alliance also enrolled in EaRTH’s Reach the Decisionmakers program, refining their strategy and tactics to improve health through regulatory change. 

Building off of this, and parallel work, RSA was able to obtain new funding from the Center for Environmental Health and Justice to fund the continuation of my work for a short period once ESP ended. 

Increasingly, environmental concerns are rapidly appearing across the country. Residents in Gary, Indiana, are experienced a power outage for two, going on three, weeks after a powerful derecho. The rise of data centers near local towns has led to the daily consumption of millions of gallons of fresh water and large amounts of energy, impacting residents' electricity and water supply. 

Climate change has contributed to record-breaking heat waves across the states. As the World Health Organizationexplains, the ability to maintain good health is largely dependent on access to “clean air, a stable climate, a preserved natural environment, as well as access to adequate water, sanitation and hygiene.” 

Healthy environments are no longer easily accessible by people, let alone residents of fenceline communities. As a result, compromised environments will inadvertently increase disease burden for communities. 

Involvement in programs like the Environmental Scholars Program allows students to better appreciate the challenges faced by the communities they will one day serve and to understand more about what it means to engage in clinician-driven environmental health justice advocacy. 

My time as an ESP scholar has helped me become a more informed and culturally responsive physician-in-training.