logo Click here for the Department of Medicine Home Page Click here for the UC Irvine Home Page Click here for the School of Medicine Home Page
 
 

A welcome message from the interim chief

Dr. Ulrike Luderer, interim chief of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
UC Irvine Health Marketing & Communications
Dr. Ulrike Luderer, interim chief of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

The Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at UC Irvine's School of Medicine is committed to providing exemplary care for the prevention, evaluation, and treatment of occupational and environmental health conditions.

Our division has the largest practice of board-certified occupational medicine physicians in Orange County and our Center for Occupational and Environmental Health serves as a referral center for the evaluation of occupational and environmental exposures in Southern California.

Division faculty members are nationally and internationally recognized for fostering basic, clinical and translational research in the field of occupational and environmental health. We are experts in environmental epidemiology, toxicology and occupational health issues.

Our physicians are also highly skilled at performing medical and fitness evaluations for employees of businesses and organizations.

Competive program, hands-on training

We are committed to training physicians and scientists for careers in occupational and environmental health. The Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine has one of the most competitive ACGME-accredited occupational medicine training programs in the country. As part of this program we offer a master's of science degree in environmental toxicology and require our residents to complete a research thesis as part of the residency program.

Our training program provides extensive didactic core lectures, seminars and a journal club in environmental and occupational medicine. In addition, our residents complete rotations at a range of field training sites — including workplace-based programs — to gain hands-on experience managing occupational health issues.

Graduates of our program constitute a core of the practicing occupational medicine specialists in Southern California and are leaders in corporate occupational medicine and public health practices.

Upon completion of our program, residents are prepared for the comprehensive practice of occupational medicine in a variety of settings, including private clinical practices, managed health care organizations, corporate medical departments, public health programs and legal or regulatory agencies.

Emphasis on research

Our division also has extensive research programs, which provide medical students, graduate students and residents with unique opportunities to address important topics in the laboratories as well as in the field.

We have one of the top programs in the country for researching work organizations. Beyond identifying safety hazards such as lead and asbestos, our researchers work to analyze the cardiovascular effects of occupational stress, including the way work is structured and the intensity of work demands on employees.

Other major research topics include reproductive and developmental toxicology and children's environmental health. Our division is heavily involved in the National Children's Study, one of the largest birth cohort studies of children ever developed.

It is our mission to train the best scientists and clinicians, to make new contributions through research and to provide the best care for our patients.