School of Public Health alumna Marissa Venn publishes environmental health textbook

Marissa Venn, an alumna of San Diego State University’s School of Public Health, recently published “Case Studies in Environmental and Planetary Health: Competencies and Frameworks,” a textbook for undergraduate and graduate students studying environmental or planetary health. She graduated from SDSU in 2021 with a master’s in environmental health.

Venn, working with co-editors Rosemary Caron and Semra Aytur, professors at Anselm College and the University of New Hampshire, respectively, focused the textbook around subjects current to public health including climate change, health disparities, and environmental justice.

“We identified the need for a textbook that incorporated environmental and planetary health concepts with demonstrations of their real-world applications,” she said.

One of her methods for making these applications is including a case study in each chapter. The case studies, she said, demonstrate either “novel solutions or highlight the ineffectiveness of the status quo” of current public health issues. She hopes these case studies help students better engage with the content.

“I see the case studies as an opportunity to narrate or illustrate public health concepts in a creative way,” she said.

Within these case studies, Venn could convey the interdisciplinary functions of public health. Many of the chapters and case studies examine collaboration between medical professionals, youth leaders, legislators, and nonprofit organizations to show how these groups work together on public health issues.

Venn put together this conceptual framework, as well as provided editorial feedback, using her background in literature, which she studied as an undergraduate. She had spent her early career as an English teacher.

When she decided to pursue public health, she went to SDSU, received her master’s, then became an environmental consultant. She credits SDSU for helping prepare her to change careers.

“One of the most important things I practiced at SDSU that has helped me in my career was the evaluation of scientific research, particularly the strengths and weaknesses of epidemiological and toxicological studies,” she said. “I felt well prepared for my new career, owing in no small part to my courses in toxicology and air quality and the wonderful Environmental Health faculty at SDSU.”

Her time at SDSU would later influence “Case Studies in Environmental and Planetary Health: Competencies and Frameworks.” One of the two chapters she co-authored with Caron and Aytur is about the Tijuana River, her thesis topic at SDSU.

As for how the textbook will be received, she hopes it will help students think “analytically and critically” about the current issues facing public health and inspire future professionals to lead with compassion.