Environmental Health Certificate of Specialization at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

ISMED-CLIM introduces the Environmental Health Certificate of Specialization, offered by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Advanced Learning Academy. Four of the programmes within the certificate are directed by Professor Petros Koutrakis, a member of the ISMED-CLIM Advisory Committee.

The certificate is intended for professionals and students working on environmental and climate-related health challenges. It addresses the same questions that guide ISMED-CLIM: how environmental exposures affect human health, and how scientific evidence can be turned into effective public health action.

About the certificate

The Environmental Health Certificate of Specialization equips participants with the knowledge and skills to address environmental risks that shape health outcomes across communities, workplaces and populations. Its content spans air pollution, climate change, water quality, environmental epidemiology and research methods, and the translation of scientific evidence into public health practice.

Participants choose one of two pathways, Global Environmental Health or Occupational Health, and have up to five years to complete the required courses. Each course can also be taken on its own and leads to a separate Certificate of Completion.

There is no single fee for the certificate. Participants enrol in and pay for each course separately, which allows them to progress at their own pace.

Four Global Environmental Health programmes

The Global Environmental Health pathway consists of four complementary programmes, all directed by Professor Koutrakis. Completing all four earns the Certificate of Specialization.

The first programme is open for enrolment. Harvard lists the remaining three as forthcoming and invites interested participants to subscribe for updates.

The programmes are designed for public health officials, epidemiologists, health care workers, environmental scientists and engineers, and medical and graduate students.

Professor Petros Koutrakis

Petros Koutrakis is the Akira Yamaguchi Professor of Environmental Health and Human Habitation at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a member of the ISMED-CLIM Advisory Committee. He serves as Program Director of all four Global Environmental Health programmes.

When the first programme launched in April 2026, Professor Koutrakis described its aim as reaching professionals and students beyond Harvard, in the United States and worldwide. The intention is to share core environmental health concepts that can inform research, policy and practice.

Through his role on the Advisory Committee, Professor Koutrakis contributes this expertise to ISMED-CLIM’s scientific work.

Relevance to ISMED-CLIM

The competencies developed through the certificate align closely with the aims of ISMED-CLIM. Participants learn to understand environmental exposures, assess their effects on human health, and translate evidence into effective action.

These are the same capacities ISMED-CLIM seeks to build across the Mediterranean region: a better understanding of climate-related health risks, stronger protection of vulnerable populations, and greater climate resilience in communities and health systems.

For researchers, public health practitioners and students in the ISMED-CLIM network, the certificate offers a structured way to build a comprehensive foundation in environmental health alongside their work on climate and health.

Further information

Full details of the certificate, its pathways and the individual programmes are available on the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health website: Environmental Health Certificate of Specialization.

Questions about the certificate or individual programmes can be sent to the Harvard Chan Advanced Learning Academy at enrollment@hsph.harvard.edu.