Environmental health is the branch of public health that is concerned with all aspects of the natural and built environment that may affect human health. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Healthy People 2020 initiative (2010), modifiable environmental factors account for around a quarter of disease burden worldwide. Clearly, there is a critical need for a better understanding of the complex relationship between the environment and the health of those living within it. This is where environmental health professionals come in. Public health workers in the field of environmental health conduct research, evaluate environmental risks, respond to emergencies, and make policy and programming recommendations that serve as a foundation within the field of public health. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2014) found that the 2012 median pay for environmental health specialists was 63,570 with the top 10% earning more than 109,970. With a projected job growth rate of 15%, this field is expected to have 13,200 new job opportunities and 103,200 total positions by 2022. Environmental health professionals are best known for their traditional roles in ensuring safe food, water, air quality, and sanitary conditions. The increase in environmental health threats such as E-Coli outbreaks, the emergence of new global threats such as Ebola, West Nile Virus, SARS, and bio/agro terrorism, and the human health impacts of environmental disasters exemplify the ever-growing need for an educated environmental health workforce.