Depending on where Marylanders live, their assurance of safe drinking water isn’t always crystal clear. In some Baltimore neighborhoods, it can be brown. While the city’s drinking water meets federal safety standards when it leaves municipal treatment plants, it might pick up lead, E. coli and other contaminants while flowing through a network of aging pipes before reaching a drinking glass. 

Students and instructors from across the world will soon be connected with those in the University of Maryland School of Public Health community, thanks to grants awarded to several SPH departments and faculty to establish new global public health classrooms.

Without smart policymaking, banning harmful chemicals like bisphenols and phthalates—common ingredients in plastics manufacturing—can result in a game of regulatory whack-a-mole where chemicals of similar toxicity or that have not been rigorously tested take their place.

The finding comes from a wide-ranging University of Maryland study published on Wednesday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

On Friday, Feb. 23, a pool of 16 leaders gathered at the Reservoir Center for Water Solutions with the purpose of bringing together powerful leaders and shaping the next generation of changemakers in public health. The leaders — all women of color in public health careers — discussed water solutions, letting flow a river of ideas and expertise. The panelists represented diverse skill sets and backgrounds united by their commitment to social justice, environmental health and clean water.

The School of Public Health continued to move fearlessly forward this year, tackling pressing issues at the local, national and global level, while educating the next generation of public health practitioners. Here's a look back at some of the school’s achievements in 2023.

The Maryland Safe Drinking Water Analysis and Testing for Education and Research (WATER) study examines the quality of public drinking water systems and private wells in Maryland through citizen science, field-based research and laboratory analyses.

Award funding will support environmental health Assistant Professor Rachel Rosenberg Goldstein's research on the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in sewage. 

The University of Maryland Baltimore Institute for Clinical & Translational Research (UMB ICTR) has named Assistant Professor Kristen Coleman as its new KL2 Clinical Research Scholar - a three-year appointment that includes multi-disciplinary mentored career development, formal coursework and professional development opportunities.