MS in Toxicology for Human Risk Assessment

The full-time program consists of:

• Nine months of coursework of the fundamental concepts and testing approaches used in classic risk assessment processes, as well as those used in the new paradigm for toxicity in the 21st Century, and
• A seven- to twelve-month internship with a government agency, non-governmental organization, industry, or private sector group.
• Students completing this program can also earn a Certificate in Risk Sciences and Public Policy.

Coursework & Academic Standards

The curriculum consists of a core of program-required coursework that is taken during the first year of the program. Courses are offered in four 8-week terms from the beginning of September to mid-May. Courses related to the internship and to the capstone essay will be completed in the second year.

Students must meet minimum satisfactory academic standards to remain in the MS program. To meet these standards, students must:

• Maintain a minimum of 2.75 cumulative grade point average
• Retake a required course in which they receive a grade of "D" or "F"

Internships

Our students are mentored by scientists, toxicologists, and epidemiologists and have interned at governmental agencies such as:

The United States Environmental Protection Agency

• Integrated Risk Information System
• Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP)
• Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT)
• Risk Assessment Division (RAD)
• The California Environmental Protection Agency
• The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA)
• Division of Scientific Programs

Master's Essay and Presentation

Students in professional programs at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health are required to successfully complete and submit a culminating project that demonstrates the integration of the skills developed during the coursework and internship experiences. For students in this program, this project takes the form of an in-depth capstone essay.

The topic of the essay will typically be linked to the specific or general focus of the internship experience and will be chosen in consultation with the adviser, who must approve it. The format of the essay will conform to standards set by the Department and may vary to accommodate the nature of the topic. Students are encouraged to select a topic that will lend itself to publication in a scientific journal. Following approval of the essay, students will make a formal presentation of the essay to departmental faculty and students to complete the requirements for the MS degree.

Graduates

Graduates of the MS program are equipped to play an essential scientific role in the evaluation of toxicity testing data and their utilization in the regulatory process at federal agencies and in the private and industrial sectors.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the program, students will be able to:

• Explain and interpret epidemiologic studies to support risk assessment and decision making;
• Elaborate commonly used public health measures, such as relative risk, attributable risk and relative hazards, and select appropriate statistical methods for estimating such measures in the presence of covariates;
• Interpret descriptive and inferential statistics resulting from data analysis and draw relevant conclusions;
• Interpret studies that use bioinformatic techniques;
• Evaluate and interpret traditional toxicological studies;
• Elaborate novel methodological approaches in toxicology;
• Apply and integrate epidemiological, traditional and novel toxicological studies to support risk assessment;
• Define the major environmental agents (i.e., environmental chemical, biological, and physical that cause adverse effects on human health) and their sources, natural and anthropomorphic;
• Discuss the transport and fate of major environmental agents in the environment, and identify the carriers or vectors (air, water, soil, and food) that promote the transfer of these agents from various environments (e.g. occupational setting) to the human;
• Describe the toxicokinetics of major environmental agents including routes of entry, metabolism, storage, and excretion;
• Describe the toxicodynamics of major environmental agents, including toxicological pathways and the mechanisms by which agents exert adverse health effects, and the use of in vitro models for predicting the magnitude of adverse effects;
• Describe approaches for in vitro to in vivo modeling of toxicokinetics;
• Summarize areas of emerging science for risk assessment (personalized toxicology, chemical mixture toxicology, systems toxicology, multi-natured stressor mixtures);
• Use systematic approaches for combining and evaluating toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic evidence;
• Evaluate evidence-based toxicology studies and studies conducted using other systematic approaches;
• Utilize exposure and epidemiologic and traditional and novel toxicological data to conduct a risk assessment;
• Communicate and translate science to general audiences and policymakers;
• Describe key risk management practices in the US and internationally;
• Explain the application of evidence used to make environmental health decisions, setting of standards and guidance;
• Summarize the function of federal agencies in public health practices and decision making.