A Look Back and a Look Forward for the Environmental Health Profession (50m Lecture)

An understanding of the history of a people, country or society is an important part of understanding the identity. Environmental health has over the years struggled with the image and identity of our core function in part because the expectations of the public keep changing. This presentation will roll the clock back fifty years looking at the environmental conditions over the last half century and the Environmental Public Health role in shaping these historic trends which have occurred. Through a timeline approach the presentation will look at key events that shaped environmental health as we know it today. What were some of the challenges that were faced by professionals in the field that caused them to go in the direction they took? As the historic timeline moves into the current era, we will highlight trends that are starting to develop. Then with this historic background information the likely path environmental health may be trending in the future can be presented.