Environmental Public Health and Engineering

As a key component of public health, environmental public health focuses on preventing and controlling human diseases caused or impacted by our environment, per section 381.006, Florida Statutes.

Environmental health professionals work to prevent disease and create environments that promote well-being, fostering healthy, and safe communities by ensuring the safety of what we eat, breathe, touch, and drink. This includes monitoring and evaluating physical, chemical, biological, and social factors in the environment like environmental toxins, bacterial concentrations, and human health impacts due to natural disasters such as hurricanes.

All activities are conducted as provided in Chapters 145, 381, 386, 514, Florida Statutes, and Chapters 64E-series, 62-550, and 62-6, Florida Administrative Code.  

Services

• Online Fee Payment and Permits
• Review Inspections
• Report Food or Waterborne Illness
• Report Unsafe/Unsanitary Restaurant, Caterer, or Mobile Food Unit
• Report Indoor Air Quality Complaints (apartment, condominium, or hotel)
• Report Mosquito Issue

Education

• Mosquito Prevention
• Local Fee Schedule
• Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention

DOH-Miami-Dade Programs

• Beach Monitoring
• Biomedical Waste: Generators, Transporters, Treatment Facilities, Sharps Disposal Programs
• Body Piercing: Fixed Location, Temporary
• Drinking Water: Safe Drinking Water Act, SuperAct Program, Public and Private Wells
• Emergency Response
• Food Hygiene
• Group Care: Schools, Residential Facilities
• Indoor Air
• Migrant Farmworker Housing
• Mobile Home Parks
• OSTDS
• Swimming Pools, Spas, and Public Bathing Places
• Sanitary Nuisances
• Tanning
• Tattooing

State and Local Partners

• Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
• Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation
• Florida Department of Environmental Protection
• Miami-Dade County Government
• South Florida Water Management District

Contact Us

If you have questions about environmental public health programs, please see contact:

Samir M. Elmir, PhD, PE, BCEE, CEHP
Division Director, DOH-Miami-Dade Environmental Public Health and Engineering

Dr. Elmir has served for 35 years within the Florida Department of Health in Miami Dade County, the largest county health department in Florida. He has served as the principle environmental public health communicator, communicating health risk assessments associated with drinking water wells potentially linked to failing septic tank systems, key contributor to Miami Dade County Government's report “Vulnerability of Septic Systems to Sea Level Rise Directive Number 162242” blue-green algae and red tide blooms affecting surface water bodies including canals and Biscayne Bay, beach advisories, boil/bottled water orders, mosquito-borne disease advisories, etc.

Dr. Elmir has provided lectures focused on public health risk communications principles and practices. He has maintained an active research program focused on the evaluation and management of all potential point and non-point sources impacting the microbial water quality in recreational waters located in tropical and subtropical environments.

Dr. Elmir has been a principal author and co-author in tens of peer-reviewed publications on the theme of microbial contamination of tropical waters. He has been a licensed professional engineer in Florida since 1993, certified diplomat with the American Academy of Environmental Engineers, certified in water and wastewater system designs and operations, and is a graduate of the 2006- 2007 Class of the Florida Engineering Leadership Institute.