Continuing Education and Training Courses

The Risk Science Center is committed to working with risk professionals, students, and the public to improve the practice and knowledge of human health risk assessment methods. Our continuing education and training courses are suitable for a variety of audiences including industry, government, consulting, academia, nonprofits, and the legal community. Our course materials are designed to make risk issues, methods, and the underlying science understandable to the intended audience, and can be adjusted as needed for the target audience to a range of professional skill levels, from novice to advanced. All courses include a mix of lectures, direct interaction, and in-class exercises.

The following is a list of courses we can bring to your location for in-person training, as either a private course for your organization or an open-enrollment course that multiple organizations may choose to co-sponsor. These courses can also be adapted to be delivered remotely (e.g., using WebEx). Contact us for more information and cost.

Multi-Day Workshops

Assessing and Communicating Risks for Toxicologists and Risk Assessors

The Risk Science Center and the UC ERC, in collaboration with Cardno Chemrisk, SafeDose, and RiskPartners.ca, have developed this highly-interactive four-day training course for new and veteran risk assessors. This workshop focuses on problem solving, exposure science, new methodologies in risk science, and the application of practical tools to effectively communicate risk. The first two days provide a broad overview of human health risk assessment, focusing on the key concepts and introducing the class to cutting-edge methods and issues in hazard characterization, mode of action, dose-response and exposure assessment. Days 3 and 4 introduce a framework for risk communication, explore factors that influence stakeholder perceptions, and apply tools for effective message development and delivery. The course uses a combination of lectures and individual and group in-class exercises.

Occupational Risk Assessment

Our Occupational Exposure Limits Course provides attendees with the knowledge to understand and apply methods for occupational risk assessment. The course utilizes human health risk assessment methods and focuses on core concepts for deriving and using occupational exposure limits to protect workers. It is presented in an interactive format with hands-on exercises. Key course topics are also available as stand-alone webinar courses related to occupational applications of risk assessment principles for data poor chemicals, multiple stressor assessments, dermal risk assessments, use of guide values for emergency response, and principles of exposure assessment.

Targeted Topics

Noncancer & Cancer Risk Assessment

This course provides an overview and basic concepts of noncancer and cancer risk assessment through current issues such as systematic literature searching and review, and use of new alternative methods. Critical thinking in addressing different data streams (e.g., in vitro, animal testing, etc.) is emphasized, as well as using mode of action data and approaches for integrating and synthesizing data. Attendees are taken step-by-step through a discussion of several sample cases to illustrate key decisions and judgements for chemical risk assessment.

Advanced Inhalation Dosimetry

This course is designed to provide basic training in dosimetric adjustments used in human health dose-response assessment. The course addresses the importance of considering dosimetry in improving interspecies adjustments and in adjustments across different exposure scenarios, including methods for acute and chronic exposures. The course includes hands-on practice with the Multiple Pathway Particle Dosimetry (MPPD) software, and how to use the outputs for calculating human equivalent concentrations (HEC) for particle / aerosol exposures, as well as HEC calculation for vapor exposures. Instruction on oral dosimetric adjustments is also available.

Bench Mark Dose Modeling

This course is designed to provide an overview of benchmark dose (BMD) modeling software for cancer and noncancer dose-response assessment, and provide hands-on experience in using the latest EPA BMDS software package; instruction in the EFSA software package using PROAST is also available. Participants will learn the basic concepts of the BMD approach, and appropriate application of BMD modeling in cancer and noncancer dose-response assessment. The evolving WHO/IPCS guidance, and implications of differences in model, parameter, and platform choice will also be addressed.

Application of Chemical Specific Adjustment Factors (CSAFs)

This course teaches the participants methods for application of the IPCS guidance on the use of chemical-specific adjustment factors (CSAFs), as well as the closely-related EPA guidance on data-derived extrapolation factors (DDEFs). These methods represent refinements for addressing interspecies and intraspecies uncertainty for human health risk assessment. The course begins with a brief review of the use of uncertainty factors and consideration of the range of approaches for incorporating increasing amounts of data in describing inter- and intra-species variability. The course will focus on the IPCS methodology for CSAF development, including the data needs and steps for calculating a CSAF. Examples and in-class activities will be used to illustrate concepts and provide practical guidance.

Customized Courses

We can customize any of our courses to provide training for your group to cover the issues and techniques of most interest, or to assist in considering specific risk assessment issues. We will work with you to develop training materials tailored to your specific needs, using existing course materials and/or developing new materials.

For more information on our training services, please contact Jacqueline Patterson at Jacqueline.patterson@uc.edu or 513-558-1908.