About
Annual Report
NEHA’s 2025 Annual Report commemorates landmarks in environmental health practice and a year of significant impact for the association. We invite you to learn about the profession's collective achievements, thought leadership, and critical advocacy efforts.
We are the leading organization supporting environmental health professionals in the US and the world. We represent more than 7,000 governmental, private, academic, and uniformed services sector environmental health professionals in the U.S., its territories, and internationally.
We have an 87-year history of advancing environmental health science and practice, and providing training, education, advocacy, and resources for our members and partners.
We are the profession’s strongest advocate for excellence in the practice of environmental health.
We provide the highest standard practice and testing for our credentialing programs and employ instructional designers and educators to develop our educational materials and events. Environmental health-trained editors publish our peer-reviewed Journal of Environmental Health, and our online Community is built specifically to foster networking and career growth.
We are governed by a 14-member board of directors and benefit from committees and technical advisors who serve as subject matter experts.
Our Mission
To build, sustain, and empower an effective environmental health workforce.
Our Vision
Healthy environments. Protected communities. Empowered professionals.
Strategic Direction
We have identified three key priority areas from which to focus our work. They are:
- Constituent Insight: Understand the needs and perceptions of our professional network in a manner that sustainably advances our mission.
- Thought Leadership: Deliver timely, essential, and influential products, services, and communications.
- Operational Excellence: Provide an effective, efficient, and supportive organization that is easy to understand, easy to navigate, and easy to work with.
Our Origin
Our association was first incorporated in California in 1937. The pioneers of the association believed that a standard was necessary if the environmental health field was to grow and take shape as a legitimate and widely respected profession.
This standard, which has come to be known as the Registered Environmental Health Specialist/Registered Sanitarian credential, signifies that an environmental health professional has mastered a body of knowledge (which is verified through the passing of an examination), and has acquired sufficient experience, to satisfactorily perform work responsibilities in the environmental health field.
Governance
Our association is governed by a 14-member Board of Directors that is chaired by the president of our association. Directors of the Association are the Regional Vice-Presidents and the elected Officers. The elected Officers are the President, President-Elect, First Vice-President, Second Vice-President, and Past-President. The CEO serves as a non-voting ex-officio member of the Board.
Learn more about the commitment and the nomination process for serving on our national board.
Financial Statements
Audited financial statements for the years ended:
- September 30, 2025 and 2024 | PDF
- September 30, 2024 | PDF
- September 30, 2023 | PDF
- September 30, 2022 | PDF
- September 30, 2021 and 2020 | PDF
- September 30, 2020 and 2019 | PDF
- September 30, 2019 and 2018 | PDF
Connect with Leadership & Staff
Affiliates
Our affiliates represent a grassroots network of state-level and sector-specific environmental health organizations. We are connected through a shared mission of empowering and educating environmental health professionals. Affiliate associations are primarily run by dedicated volunteers who support the profession locally. Our members are encouraged to connect with the affiliate organization in their state and get involved.
Additional Affiliates
- Business and Industry Affiliate
- Contact nehabia@outlook.com
- Past Presidents
- Contact Dr. Gary Brown gary.brown@eku.edu
- Uniformed Services Environmental Health Association
Affiliate Chapter Updates
- To update your affiliate organization, presidential and contact information
- To request
- a NEHA speaker/presentation
- specific resources
- technical assistance
- advocacy assistance
- other affiliate needs
Certificates of Merit
Each affiliate in good standing is invited to designate one of its members and/or a team to receive a Certificate of Merit, thereby nationally recognizing one of their own on a national level. Learn More
Leadership Community Group
This group in our online Community is for leaders of our affiliates to exchange ideas and provide peer-to-peer support, and includes resources such as:
- Recordings and minutes from Affiliate Leadership meetings
- Affiliate leadership opportunities
- Affiliate Hill Day and advocacy information
- Speakers list
Note: Please contact support@neha.org with questions regarding our affiliates.
Defining Environmental Health
Environmental health is the science and practice of preventing human injury and illness and promoting well-being by
- identifying and evaluating environmental sources and hazardous agents and;
- limiting exposures to hazardous physical, chemical, and biological agents in air, water, soil, food, and other environmental media or settings that may adversely affect human health.
Defining the Environmental Health Professional
An environmental health professional or specialist is a practitioner with appropriate academic education and training and registration or certification to
- investigate, sample, measure, and assess hazardous environmental agents in various environmental media and settings;
- recommend and apply protective interventions that control hazards to health;
- develop, promote, and enforce guidelines, policies, laws, and regulations;
- develop and provide health communications and educational materials;
- manage and lead environmental health units within organizations;
- perform systems analysis;
- engage community members to understand, address, and resolve problems;
- review construction and land use plans and make recommendations;
- interpret research utilizing science and evidence to understand the relationship between health and environment; and
- interpret data and prepare technical summaries and reports.
Environmental Health Services Are Important
Previous reports are viewable as webpages or PDFs
History Project
"The more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future." – Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States
In 2020, NEHA President Dr. Priscilla Oliver (2019–2020) appointed a committee to study and review the rich history of NEHA, as well as that of the environmental health field. In light of the many advances and new innovations that have occurred in environmental health over the past decades, it is important to examine where we have been and what we have accomplished, which will position our profession to look to the future. And so, the NEHA History Project Task Force was created.
The NEHA History Project Task Force is charged with making the important history of NEHA and environmental health available to all NEHA members, as well as other practitioners, students, and the general public. The task force, made up of luminaries from across the environmental health field, convened in March 2020 to assess the history we have recorded, gather data and historical documents, collect historical artifacts, and review records.
Through this website, the NEHA History Project Task Force endeavors to preserve our rich history and share our story with all.