Evaluating novel methods for teaching toxicology, public health and emergency response to undergraduate students.

Recent global health threats from bioterrorism and chemical attacks to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa have shown that there is a necessity for teaching toxicology, public health and emergency preparedness to future health care professionals in order to protect the public from these global threats. Thus, the public health sector is increasingly demanding health care professionals and health professionals with a knowledge and training to respond to chemical and biological events that can pose a risk to populations. Moreover, evidence base and analytical skills are necessary competences to advocate for public health interventions to protect human health. A series of specialised workshops have been created by lecturers with a public health background and experience from the field such as in the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa or regarding human risk assessment due to metals and metalloids in urban ecosystems. These workshops have been delivered in different modules across the Medical Sciences degree at De Montfort University (2015/16) and were based on previous experience in environmental toxicology training developed by Peña-Fernández et al. (2015). Different case studies were produced in which students come with measures to protect public health. Students reported in the final module feedback through Blackboard a high engagement and interest in these workshops. The novel teaching materials produced could be effective for providing students with public health knowledge and tools to develop a response and preparedness to intervene against future chemical or biological events. This novel teaching content could be adopted to train future public health professionals.