Beth Carlton Selected as New Chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health

Much like trying to solve the puzzle of waterborne illnesses, which she did when she was in the Peace Corps in Honduras, Beth Carlton, PhD, MPH, BS, hopes to bring those same skills to use in her new role as the Chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health (EOH).

Carlton, who has been a member of the faculty at Colorado School of Public Health (ColoradoSPH) for over a decade, is stepping into her new role as an ecologist steps into a complex ecosystem.

“I’ve always been interested in complex systems and challenges,” Carlton said, referring to her work studying neglected tropical diseases in China, COVID-19 in Colorado, and the impacts of climate change on infectious diseases. For her new role, Carlton sees similar complexities, “it’s a different kind of puzzle. Now it’s about creating environments where faculty, students and staff can thrive.”

Fortunately, the innovative and collaborative nature of ColoradoSPH, which is what drew her here in the first place, is what she will rely on to move the department forward.

Carlton, who earned degrees at Yale, Columbia, and University of California, Berkeley, chose to become a faculty member at ColoradoSPH 11 years ago because of the school’s newness and opportunity to collaborate across disciplines and schools.

“The sense of creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit is really compelling,” Carlton said.

She hopes to foster these qualities in her new role and on behalf of the students, faculty, and staff in EOH, and throughout the school.

“I think what is unparalleled here is a real dedication to research, teaching and practice that impacts public health,” she said. “We are doing public health for real people. A lot of our centers speak to that. They’re really about translating high quality research into practice.”

For example, in 2020, Carlton became part of a larger group of faculty and staff at the school who formed the Colorado COVID-19 modeling group to track the pandemic and supporting decision-making by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and the governor’s office.

Also, in her time here, she has built out courses on infectious diseases, climate change and health, and leads the doctor of public health (DrPH) program in EOH where she mentors doctoral students training to become leaders in environmental and workplace health.

In her free time, Carlton enjoys spending her time with her husband and son, hiking and backpacking in Colorado.