To facilitate the intended presentation, this final lecture is organized into 5 parts. The first part is to revisit the definition and the scope of toxicologic epidemiology, especially since the term toxicologic epidemiology is rarely used in the literature. And to those toxicologists less familiar with the important role of epidemiology in health risk assessment (RA), which is the subject matter of toxicologic epidemiology, they might be misled to contend that toxicology per se should take the lead in directing the course of RA.

The second part offers a dialectic elaboration on the strong linkage between toxicology and epidemiology in RA. Earlier the interrelationships among public health, RA, toxicology, and epidemiology were discussed and demonstrated extensively, but without some logical or didactical arguments.

Part 3 discusses the formal training required and available for human exposure assessment (HEA) and RA. As mentioned in earlier lectures, numerous online and offline courses are now available in HEA and RA. Many of these courses are not offered to lead to a graduate degree directly in these areas. A formal curriculum leading to a graduate degree in HEA or RA is not warranted, however, unless there is a demand for scientists in this profession. Part 4 thus highlights some of the career opportunities now existing in this growing field.

Last but not least, Part 5 concludes the series with a more objective prediction of the (not so distant) future of toxicologic epidemiology, as well as some administrative nutrients that would help nourish this profession.