Building an International Occupational Medicine Education (BIOME) Community
Dr. Marianne Cloeren
School of Medicine
The "Building an International Occupational Medicine Education (BIOME)" Community project was conceived to create a global network for education and collaboration in Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM). With core partners including the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the International Occupational Medicine Society Collaborative (IOMSC), Workplace Health Without Borders (WHWB), and the International Component Society of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ICSOEM), BIOME has established strong international relationships and infrastructure for sustained engagement. This groundwork has already led to the development of an online discussion and resource-sharing platform and planning for Global Grand Rounds, positioning us to extend impact through high-quality online education.
We now propose to build on this foundation to develop a flagship online training course: Introduction to Occupational Health and Hygiene for Clinicians. This course was initially designed as five live, virtual sessions for 2025, covering core domains such as occupational hazards, toxicology, exposure assessment, risk management, and health surveillance. While the live format promotes interaction, it is limited in scalability and accessibility. By transforming the course into a self-paced, interactive e-learning program, we can reach a far wider audience, including clinicians in low- and middle-income countries who may otherwise be unable to participate in synchronous sessions.
The conversion will involve reorganizing existing content (slides, transcripts, and case studies) into concise online modules with embedded knowledge checks, practice scenarios, and learner progress tracking. Participants who complete all modules will receive a certificate of completion, enhancing recognition of their professional development. To promote global equity, we will integrate a sliding-scale fee structure based on country income level, ensuring affordability for clinicians worldwide while supporting program sustainability.
This work leverages the relationships and networks already established by BIOME. The collaboration with IOMSC, WHWB, and ICSOEM will allow broad dissemination and recruitment of participants across regions. Real-world case examples contributed by international colleagues will ensure relevance across a variety of occupational settings, from construction and mining to healthcare and manufacturing. By embedding this new course into the BIOME ecosystem, a tangible, enduring product will be created to strengthen the platform’s role as a hub for OEM education and collaboration.
Key objectives of this revised project are to:
- Expand global access to foundational OEM education through a scalable, asynchronous course.
- Enhance clinician competence in recognizing and managing occupational hazards across diverse work settings.
- Advance equity by implementing a sliding-scale pricing model for international learners (fees will apply to certificate issuance, while access to the education without certificate will be free.)
- Sustain collaboration by engaging BIOME partners in course dissemination, feedback, and integration into future offerings.
- Establish infrastructure for additional online courses within the BIOME community, creating a foundation for external funding and long-term growth.
Redirecting available funds to this initiative will build on BIOME’s existing collaborations and create a practical, enduring, and globally accessible learning resource that amplifies the reach of OEM education worldwide.