Job Opportunities: Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA)
California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), part of the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), offers excellent opportunities for epidemiologists, exposure scientists, environmental scientists, and other scientists who wish to make a difference by pursuing careers in government service advancing public health. OEHHA is actively recruiting both experienced scientists and recent graduates to join our team.
We hire staff and supervising scientists in multiple classifications from the California civil service including:
- Research Scientists (Epidemiology/Biostatistics, Chemical Sciences): $78,144–$169,848 per year
- Environmental Scientists: $49,740–$189,000 per year
- Toxicologists: $78,144–$188,856 per year
- Public Health Medical Officers: $133,848–$207,996 per year
- Health Program Specialists: $72,732-$119,340 per year
As the lead state agency assessing health risks posed by hazardous substances, we provide scientific expertise to all branches of CalEPA and to other state and local agencies to assist them in regulatory and public health decisions. We also work with federal agencies, the scientific community, industry, nongovernmental organizations, and communities across California on environmental and public health issues.
Key OEHHA activities include:
- Assessing the health risks posed by air and water contaminants.
- Developing, refining and updating two pioneering environmental justice screening tools that the burdens California communities face from environmental pollutants, and the quality, accessibility and affordability of drinking water provided by community water systems.
- Exploring the use of novel toxicity data streams to characterize the toxicity of chemicals with sparse or without traditional toxicology information.
- Developing fish advisories for mercury and other contaminants in sport fish from water bodies throughout the state and making recommendations regarding fishing safety and closures after marine oil spills.
- Collaborating with the California Department of Public Health and Department of Toxic Substances Control on the Biomonitoring California program, which measures levels of chemicals found in Californians’ bodies.
- Evaluating and assessing health risks and exposures to carcinogens and reproductive toxicants as part of implementing the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, better known as Proposition 65.
- Identifying the impacts of climate change on California, and the effects of heat and air pollutants on human health.
- Educating health care providers on the recognition, management and reporting of pesticide illness.
- Providing guidance to regional and local agencies on the health-risk assessment of contaminated sites
Apply for job opportunities here