Rania A. Sabty is the Program Manager/Educator for the Western Region Universities Consortium (WRUC), a four-university partnership, led by LOSH, and federally funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Worker Training Program. WRUC is focused on mitigating exposure to occupational and environmental hazards in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regions 9 and 10, including tribal territories. Overall goals of the WRUC programs are to protect workers and communities from exposure to hazardous materials and hazardous wastes; to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies/disasters; and to create pathways to careers, among underserved populations, in green jobs.

Rania’s role includes working closely with NIEHS, university-based partners, worker and community-based organizations, environmental and public health departments, worker health departments, occupational safety and health professionals, and state and local government representatives. She is interested in environmental justice, policy initiatives, as well as occupational health and safety in underserved and underrepresented worker groups. Her interests also include climate resilience, adaptation, and action.

Rania has 20+ years of experience in academia. Before joining LOSH, she was an assistant professor at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) where she developed and taught EOH curricula at both graduate and undergraduate levels. She has experience in program assessment and accreditation processes. She has been a member of the National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council for many years. She has research experience in the workplace, laboratory, and community settings. Her previous research topics include evaluating the exposure of outdoor day laborers to heat stress and workplace hazards, reducing children’s exposure to near-roadway air pollutants, evaluating the effectiveness of air filtration systems on indoor air quality inside classrooms, and particle size distribution and speciation of chromium in paint spray aerosol.

She holds a PhD in environmental health sciences and a master’s degree in public health with a focus in industrial hygiene, both from UCLA. She is also a registered environmental health specialist.