CHILDREN'S HEALTH and the ENVIRONMENT 

ChEHC is a unique program addressing the impacts on children’s health from environmental exposures (chemical, biological, physical and social). The program considers all environmental factors to assess exposures by integrating clinical, research and educational components. 

We are the first program of our kind in Canada. Recently, ChEHC supported developing and establishing a second ChEHC in Ontario.

The course addresses growing evidence on early life environmental exposures (biological, physical, chemical and social) as crucial determinants of childhood and adult conditions like impaired development, asthma, or cancer. 

Despite the growing interest in potential health risks of environmental concerns in Canada, there is a need for more training opportunities for Children, Health and the Environment. 

The interdisciplinary nature of this course aims to attract students from multiple disciplines to fulfill the need for formal training around a current topic with increasing demands and public awareness.

Course Coordinators:

Dr. Anne Hicks

Dr. Osornio Vargas

Dr. Alvaro Osornio Vargas's research interest is air pollution and related health effects. Specifically, he has focused on the impact of mixtures at the experimental and population level from an interdisciplinary approach. 

He has more than 170 publications. 

He obtained his Medical, M.Sc. and Ph.D. Degrees from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. 

He was a researcher at the Mexican National Institutes of Health until 2009. 

In August 2009, he joined the Department of Paediatrics, University of Alberta, to develop the research segment of a Children's Environmental Health initiative. 

He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Schools of Public Health at the University of Michigan, Rutgers University, and the University of Alberta. He became Professor Emeritus in 2022.