About NCEH/ATSDR

NCEH/ATSDR Vision, Mission and Goals

Vision

Healthy people in a healthy environment.

Mission

  NCEH/ATSDR protects people’s health from environmental hazards that can be present in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the world that sustains us. We do this by investigating the relationship between environmental factors and health, developing guidance, and building partnerships to support healthy decision making.

Goals

1. Implement environmental health programs and interventions to protect and promote health.
2. Prepare for and respond to public health emergencies, including chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear incidents; natural disasters; and extreme weather events.
3. Identify, characterize, and monitor health outcomes and environmental exposures to guide actions that protect and promote health.

Core Values

Accountability — As diligent stewards of the funds entrusted to our agency, we act decisively and compassionately in service to people’s health. We ensure that our research and our services are based on sound science to meet real public needs and achieve our public health goals.

Collaboration — We share a common purpose. We work cooperatively to leverage our resources and efficiently achieve our goals. We cannot achieve our vision by acting alone. Partnerships within CDC/ATSDR and with states, territories, localities, tribes, academic institutions, and other organizations are essential.

Innovation — We encourage creativity and innovative thinking to advance public health practice and science. We provide national leadership as we focus on improvements and solutions to the most important environmental health problems.

Equity — We are committed to ensuring a healthy environment for all Americans. We recognize that some among us can be more vulnerable to risks from poor environmental conditions, disproportionate amounts of contamination or exposures, and also may not have fully equitable access to environmental benefits. We are committed to protecting these potentially vulnerable populations.

Integrity — We are honest and ethical in all we do. We will do what we say. We prize scientific integrity and professional excellence.

Respect — We respect and understand our interdependence with all people, both inside NCEH/ ATSDR and throughout the world, treating them and their contributions with dignity and valuing individual and cultural diversity. We are committed to achieving a diverse workforce at all levels of the organizationn.

Note: See NCEH and ATSDR’s websites for more details on each organization.