Departmental Unit № 1
Department of Health Systems Management / Division of Environmental and Occupational Health
PhD in Health Sciences (Environmental / Occupational Health Track)
Full Tuition + Research Stipend for Doctoral Fellows
Funding Package: Tuition covered + stipend (~$32,000/yr) for admitted doctoral research fellows focusing on clinical and environmental epidemiological health impacts.
Fall Priority Deadline: January 15
GRE Policy: Not required / Optional
English Minimums: TOEFL iBT 80 or IELTS 6.5
MS in Clinical Research (Environmental Health Epidemiology)
Graduate Assistantships on Funded Medical Grants
Funding Reality: Target PhD or cross-apply to UIC/Northwestern for physical geography and environmental engineering degrees.
Application Deadline: March 1
Admissions Advisory: If full funding is required and MS is self-funded, students are strongly advised to apply directly to the PhD track.
Vetted Matched Scholars (1 Profiles)
Prof. Shannon N. Zenk
Adjunct Professor / Research Faculty in Environmental Health Disparities
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
She combines wearable GPS trackers with digital pollution maps to see how daily exposure to industrial smog and neighborhood toxins impacts people's long-term physical health.
Core Research Topics: Spatial epidemiology, built environment and health, GIS tracking of environmental pollutants, neighborhood environmental health disparities.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Investigating how residential spatial proximity to air and water pollution corridors affects chronic respiratory and cardiovascular health outcomes using wearable GPS tracking and environmental sensor arrays.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: GIS spatial analytics, GPS tracking devices, spatial regression, epidemiology biostatistics, R.
Recruiting Context: Note: Rush is specialized in health/medical sciences; for physical geosciences, UIC (#61) across the street offers classical geography and environmental engineering.
Candidate Match:
GISEnvironmental PollutionSpatial Statistics
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Discussing your interest in spatial epidemiology, GIS environmental exposure mapping, and neighborhood pollution vulnerability in your health sciences group."