The Jonas Environmental Health Education Project at UCSF is a comprehensive plan to explore risks of environment and toxic chemicals on individual and public health and the role of prevention. The undertaking will also advance awareness among medical professionals of their role in addressing these issues in their clinics and in policy arenas.

The three-year grant will run through 2019 and support initiatives led by the UCSF School of Medicine, including the creation of a new environmental health course; advancing technologies to help families understand the environment's influence on health; and integrating environmental health into regular health care.

The grant supports four distinct but interconnected projects:

• New environmental health course designed as a model for health care institutions across the country.
• The Environmental Health Initiative (EHI), a university-wide undertaking to integrate efforts of all UCSF schools and departments to incorporate environmental health into medical professional education, research and clinical care (e.g., a recent project of the EHI links UCSF pediatric and environmental health researchers to explore the link between asthma and formaldehyde, a widely used chemical in commerce).
• Advancing technological tools, such as the SafetyNest app, that puts in people’s hands evidence-based, accessible information on how to reduce toxic chemical exposure.
• Supporting UCSF engagement with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and other government agencies to integrate environmental health into health care.