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School of Public Health

Biography

Derek Shendell, D.Env., M.P.H., is a professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and Justice at the Rutgers School of Public Health. Dr. Shendell bridges science, education, and policy in a multidisciplinary fashion to reduce and/or prevent environmental exposures and health effects. Dr. Shendell also leads an Interagency Alliance for Young Worker Safety and Health in New Jersey. He earned his doctoral degree in environmental science and engineering from UCLA and his Master of Public Health from Yale University.

Research Interests

Dr. Shendell focuses on community and school-based research with local participation in planning and execution, educational training (in-person and online/hybrid) and materials, service and technical assistance, and evidence-based policy recommendations. He also acts as the director of the New Jersey Safe Schools Program, where Dr. Shendell leads injury surveillance for both adolescents and young adult workers on- and off-campus and student-athletes, cosmetology and Right to Know, science-to-policy, regular statewide e-communications, and training for teachers, supervisors, and administrators as well as students in secondary career-technical-vocational education concerning safety and health, child labor laws and wage and hour laws. Regarding climate change, Dr. Shendell's interests relate to health and safety impacts plus adaptations by school-age children and the adults in their lives (teachers, coaches and families). This includes the ambient or outdoor as well as the indoor air and environmental quality where they live, work and play, especially at K-12 schools.