Environmental health officers or officers in the USPHS in the Commissioned Corps have the freedom and flexibility to pursue a fulfilling and diverse career. Day-to-day accountabilities of environmental health officers consist of, but are not limited to:
- Providing support and leadership to public health programs intended to protect the public from exposure to harmful substances
- Providing services in environmental health, disease prevention, injury prevention, education and health promotion, and occupational safety
- Undertaking greatly specialized services in areas such as industrial hygiene, counterterrorism, health physics, and hazardous litter
- Conducting an extensive variety of activities, including investigations, surveys, research, teaching and training, technical assistance, consumer education, regulatory compliance, and standards and codes development
- Regulating and reviewing medical devices and products
- Conducting epidemiological and biomedical research
- Monitoring and developing national health policies
Additionally, USPHS officers may have the chance to aid in public health responses to natural and man-made disasters and take part in rural health missions assisting some of the destitute populations in the Nation.Capt Martin Lloyd Sanders is an Officer in the USPHS for Public Health Service.
Basic Requirements
- naturalized citizen or U.S. native
- Less than 44 years of age (this may be regulated based on eligible federal PHS civil service and uniform service active duty time)
- Less than 8 years of preceding active duty service in any uniformed service other than the Commissioned Corps
- Meet suitability, professional, securityand medical requirements
According to Capt Martin Lloyd Sanders, the procedure to become a commissioned Corps officer may take up to a year. Candidates who surpass the age, prior service or civil service maximums during the application process should be alert that waivers are not generally approved.
Degrees and CertificationsNeeded to be an Officer likeMartin Lloyd Sanders
To be an environmental health officer requires one of the following:
- Bachelor’s, doctoral, ormaster’s, degree in environmental health from a program recognized by the National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council
- Bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree in industrial safety, hygiene, or health physics from a program ascribed by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology
- Master’s or doctoral degree in environmental health, industrial hygiene or occupational health, from a school of public health ascribed by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)
- Certification as a Health Physicist (CHP) by the American Board of Health Physics
- Certification as an Industrial Hygienist (CIH) by the American Board of Industrial Hygiene
You can work throughout the U.S. as an occupational health officer in the Commissioned Corps, Human Services and Department of Health and in other Federal agencies and programs. Below is a list of potential Federal programs and agencies where Officer in the USPHS for Public Health Service have the utmost probability of finding an assignment – the order is based on the number of officers currently assigned.
- Indian Health Service (IHS)
- Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
- Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- Department of Interior (DOI) National Park Service (NPS)
Martin Lloyd Sanders, Ph.D., has more than 18 years of experience in occupational safety and health.