An examination of the educational needs for environmental health and protection.

The practice of environmental health and protection is at a crossroads. Expanded responsibilities throughout this nation's agencies, prescriptive statutory mandates, and shrunken resources for fundamental public health services have combined to change the infrastructure and the workforce. This article presents the results of the Crossroads Colloquium, a forum of leaders in environmental health, convened to address the educational needs of the workforce. Major recommendations from the Crossroads Colloquium include redefining training by moving from discipline-specific to multidisciplinary training, developing collaborations among agencies, academia, and industry for training and education, and providing opportunities ranging from distance education to graduate degree programs.