On Oct. 31, Col. Kirk A. Phillips of the U.S. Air Force closed out the AIHA Fall Conference by urging attendees to think about exposure and prevention in the context of total exposure health, an approach that seeks to capture all exposures to individuals, including workplace, environmental, and lifestyle exposures. Phillips, who serves as associate chief for bioenvironmental engineering in the Office of the Air Force Surgeon General, described how advances in sensor technology, genomic sciences, and health information technology can help industrial hygienists and other professionals better understand exposures and reduce health risks to individuals.

“We’re going to be able to use our knowledge of exposure to change healthcare in the future,” Phillips said. “And we’re going to do this fundamental change as exposure scientists.”

Phillips noted that AIHA’s research priorities—especially the areas of sensor technologies and big data management—“align well” with total exposure health.