Grantee Research Project Results
2016 Progress Report: Center for Native American Environmental Health Equity Research
EPA Grant Number: R836157Center: Center for Native American Environmental Health Equity Research
Center Director: Lewis, Johnnye Lynn
Title: Center for Native American Environmental Health Equity Research
Investigators: Lewis, Johnnye Lynn , MacKenzie, Debra Ann , Cerrato Corrales, Jose Manuel , Hudson, Laurie , Gonzales, Melissa
Current Investigators: Lewis, Johnnye Lynn , Gonzales, Melissa , Hudson, Laurie , Cerrato Corrales, Jose Manuel , MacKenzie, Debra Ann
Institution: University of New Mexico
EPA Project Officer: Callan, Richard
Project Period: July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2020 (Extended to June 30, 2021)
Project Period Covered by this Report: July 1, 2015 through May 31,2016
Project Amount: $1,500,000
RFA: NIH/EPA Centers of Excellence on Environmental Health Disparities Research (2015) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Human Health
Objective:
Nearly half of the Native American population of the United States lives in 13 western states where there are an estimated 161,000 abandoned hardrock mines, more than 4,000 are abandoned uranium mines. These communities have been inextricably linked to their environments for millennia. Because of their reliance on natural resources to maintain traditional diets, lifestyles, customs and languages, these tribal communities have direct and frequent contact with metal mixtures from unremediated mine sites, creating exposures through multiple pathways, including inhalation, drinking water, and ingestion of food sources either directly or indirectly contaminated by migration of the wastes. Exacerbating these exposures are disparities in infrastructure, especially drinking water supplies and unique social determinants of health (SDH) from poverty in rural and isolated locations. Together, environmental health (EH) disparities and social determinants combine to create a potential sensitivity to toxicity and disparate disease outcomes in tribal communities. Addressing these pervasive EH disparities with primary biomedical and environmental research and Native-focused community engagement is the focus of the University of New Mexico’s proposed Center for Native American Environmental Health Equity Research, or “Native EH Equity”. The partners in the center consist of three University research programs and three tribal nations—Navajo, Sioux and Crow—with plans to expand to a fourth tribal region in later years of the project. Native EH Equity extends the work in progress within each of these communities over the last two decades to fill gaps in existing knowledge for each tribe. The proposed partnership addresses Research Priority areas 1, 2, 3, and 5 through a strong partnership that will examine and compare mechanisms of toxicity in mining waste metal mixtures of different composition across three tribal populations. The distribution of contaminants, cultural practices, and genetic origins of the three core tribes involved provide a basis for the first steps in sorting out the health effects of metal mixtures in tribal communities. Our partnership creates the opportunity for comparison across these groups to expand our understanding of mixed-metal toxicity and our confidence in the characteristics of the exposures, and the populations, that influence the generalizability of the results. The proposed work also strives to build the research capacity, the understanding of data, and interpretation and use of biomedical results across these communities, as well as to develop a framework that characterizes the unique exposure pathways and defines health from a perspective not only reflective of tribal perceptions, but ultimately useful in informing regulatory decision-making.
Progress Summary:
We have continued to strengthen our partnerships with researchers and community members from the three Native American communities currently represented. This has been accomplished in part through monthly center-wide telephone conferences for the team as a whole, as well as monthly conference calls between three established “working” groups—research, community engagement, and environment (facilitated by the Administrative Core). On these calls, the cores and research projects have summarized the objectives and approaches to all of the Native EH Equity Team members. The research projects are working with the Community Engagement Core (CEC) Team to develop layperson research summaries that can be translated to the involved communities.
In support of our integrated approaches to data collection, management, and analysis, the Environmental Core (EC) (our Center’s Facilities Core), has gathered, reviewed, and begun to integrate available quality assurance plans for environmental monitoring from among our collaborators. In addition, our research projects have worked closely to coordinate the analysis of sample sets in order to develop the most complete set of data possible to assist with identifying the biologic effects of metals contamination across all outcome measures, within these affected communities. The EC also has worked with the immunology project to develop analytical protocols (see EC progress report).
- Dr. Lewis and Dr. Gonzales visited the Crow Nation and both our research and environmental teams at Montana State University in October, met with the Crow Environmental Health Steering Committee to discuss the Crow Water Project (see EC), and with the president of Little Big Horn College to discuss the coordination of future summer workshops and webinars within the academic year (see CEC).
- Based on Little Big Horn College discussions, and subsequent discussions with Diné College on Navajo, the plan to develop a “curriculum” has been adjusted to develop a menu (photos, tribal affiliation, research project) for the next academic year to circulate among faculty to integrate into multiple subject areas a lecture series on ongoing tribal research projects our team is involved in. We then will try to bring a group of students to Albuquerque for summer research training, followed by placement with an investigator in their community in the next academic year, to work on a research project. This was judged by all to be the most effective means of stimulating long-term research interest.
- The research team from Crow Nation traveled to New Mexico for a 2-day intensive research session to share data and finalize research plans for both experimental approaches and collection of population samples for biomonitoring and analysis. An afternoon seminar had presentations from UNM investigators MacKenzie, Erdei, Rubin, and Burchiel; Montana colleagues Pfau and Keil; and Boston University colleague Madeleine Schammell here on another collaboration with our team.
- A team from UNM representing the research and EC will travel to the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation in May to work with tribal members and to finalize draft protocols for collecting samples from water, plants, and soils for analysis and do a site investigation. Samples available for collection will be harvested, but plant material may need to be sampled later depending on last-freeze date.
- Ten members from all three participating tribes and other EH Equity Center research and core members traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in the NIEHS-sponsored “The Value of Tribal Ecological Knowledge (TEK) for Environmental Health Sciences and Biomedical Research Workshop.” December 2-3, 2015, held at the NIH in Bethesda, MD. We interacted with each other as well as with tribal communities dealing with environmental health disparities world-wide at the workshop. The team also met as a group to discuss Center collaborations, identifying commonalities between our tribal and academic partners.
- In May 2016, the Center will host a group of prospective native and non-native students from Northern Arizona University, who are interested in UNM graduate programs in environment health disparities. The group will tour the facilities of Native EH Equity collaborators at UNM including toxicology, civil engineering, and chemistry.
Training and professional development opportunities:
- The Native EH Equity Center has provided formal training/development opportunities to four Career Development Interns (see Career Development Program [Aim 2] of the Administrative Core Progress Report). The Interns also have had opportunity for informal, hands-on training through their participation in the research projects, community engagement, and environmental cores (see progress reports for details).
- The EC provided training for Native doctoral students DeVore (Navajo), and Three Irons (Crow). Ms. DeVore was supported through Institutional support to the project in Year 1. Ms. Barney, a Navajo Ph.D. student who originally planned to do her doctoral research with the core, has had to withdraw due to conflicts with work demands. We would like to formally support Ms. DeVore through the core in the coming year, freeing up the institutional support to recruit an additional student. Ms. DeVore, through her involvement with the Native EH Equity Center now has been able to enroll for completion of her Ph.D. in the School of Engineering, working with the Center on projects at Cheyenne River that build on her Master’s work in Water Resources. Without Center support, she would have left UNM with a terminal Master’s degree in September 2015.
- We have been able to recently bring Ms. DeVore’s work on factors controlling plant uptake of uranium from contaminated surface waters to the attention of the director of Navajo EPA, and she will be briefing Navajo EPA staff on her research. The Center plans to seek a diversity supplement to support Mr. Three Irons upon his enrollment into a Ph.D. Program this summer.
- Career Development Intern Joe Hoover has been mentoring Sheldwin Yazzie (Navajo), a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington, in analysis of indoor radon exposure data from Navajo and geospatial analysis. Dr. Hoover also has co-instructed ENVS 121 (Environmental Sciences I with Lab), in the Environmental Sciences Program at Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque.
- Center participation in the National Conference of State Legislators Legislative Summit, held in August 2015 in Seattle, WA, included presentations by Center members. Dr. Lewis presented in the Environmental Justice Session: “Legacy of Mining in the West”; Dr. Lefthand-Begay (Career Development Intern) presented in the Environmental Health Workshop “Tribal Community Concerns, Climate Change and Adaptation.” The Environmental Health Workshop, for which Dr. Lewis was an organizer, explored the relationship between the environment and its impact on public health. The plenary sessions highlighted three major policy concerns to this national audience—hydraulic fracturing, water resources, and environmental justice—providing an open forum with experts in the field on their health impacts. At the workshop, Drs. Lewis and Lefthand-Begay were given an opportunity to introduce the Center to the Caucus members. The idea of the Center was met with strong appreciation by members, who expressed a great need for this type of initiative.
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Ten members of the Center attended “The Value of Tribal Ecological Knowledge (TEK) for Environmental Health Sciences and Biomedical Research Workshop,” December 2-3, 2015, at the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD. Presentations at TEK by trainees included:
- DeVore C, Ducheneaux C, Veit B, Blake J, Bowers F, Roland C, Ali A-M, Cerrato JM, Gonzales M, Lewis J, Native EH Equity Center. Tribal land-use, exposure pathways and the importance of fate and transport of environmental metals.
- Hoover J, Lewis J, Native EH Equity Center. Understanding the Gold King Mine Spill: Center for Native American Environmental Health Equity Research Investigations to inform risk.
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Lefthand-Begay C, Native EH Equity Center. Building a trusting network with tribal nations by avoiding the central appropriateness of indigenous knowledge systems. Presentations at TEK with Center trainees as co-presenters/co-authors included:
- Gonzales M, Lewis J, MacKenzie D, Cerrato JM, Shuey C, Hudson L, Erdei E, Keil D, Barney Y, Doyle J, Ducheneaux C, O’Leary M, Begay D, Eggers M, Lefthand-Begay C, de la Rosa V, Hoover J, Rodriguez-Freire L. Center for Native American Environmental Health Equity Research (Native EH Equity).
- MacKenzie D, Erdei E, Ong, J, Miller C, Lewis C and the Native EH Equity Center. Study of environmental exposure to mixed metals on immune dysregulation and anti-nuclear antibody production in three different tribal communities.
- O’Leary M, Begay D, Lewis J, Gonzales M, Native EH Equity Center. Dialogue on the pros and cons of genetic research for tribal communities.
- Drs. Lewis and Hudson also have been working closely with Dr. Clarita Lefthand-Begay in preparation of a permanent tenure track faculty application in the iSchool at the University of Washington. They also have mentored her on her presentation for her interview. A decision on the success of that application will be made in April and looks promising at this point. Dr. Lewis also has been working with her on development of an independent investigator research proposal, and we anticipate a K-award submission by her this summer, and potentially an additional submission this spring. Our focus with her is shifting to publication of her graduate work.
- Dr. De La Rosa obtained funding for a pilot project within the Center in December. These were institutional funds committed to applicants from the Center through the UNM Environmental Health Signature Program. She is examining nutritional sufficiency in mothers from the Navajo Birth Cohort Study, and has identified six major deficiencies (>40% below RDA) in the 200 mothers analyzed including folate, zinc, vitamins D & E, calcium, and iron. Confirmatory analysis in serum is in progress, and the results will be used to assess shifts in arsenic metabolism pathways and oxidative stress associated with the dietary insufficiency.
- Center support also allowed Drs. Hoover and Lewis to participate in the emergency response to the Gold King Mine spill. Dr. Lewis was part of the daily response RPPR coordination calls with USEPA Region 9 and Navajo Nation. Dr. Hoover in collaboration with Drs. Cerrato and Rodriguez of the Environmental Support Core used available monitoring data along with characterization of sediments to understand future risks from the spill. A manuscript based on that work is nearly complete and discussed in the Environmental Core’s progress report.
- An informational brochure on the Native EH Equity Center, prepared by Dr. Lewis and circulated for comment among Center Membership, currently is being used in community outreach.
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Other Presentations
- In fall 2015, Dr. Begay of the CEC provided an overview of the Center to key officials of the Navajo Nation (President and Vice-President of the Navajo Nation, Director of the Navajo Nation Community Health Representative [CHR] including all administrative subordinates, Chair of the Health, Education, and Human Services Committee of the Navajo Nation Council, and Chair of the Navajo Nation Human Research Review Board [IRB]).
- Career Development Intern and CEC member, Dr. Lefthand Begay reached out to the Lummi Nation and the Spokane Indian Reservation in the Pacific Northwest to learn about their concerns pertaining to metal contamination of their watersheds located on their reservation and their customary lands. Both expressed concern about water pollution on their lands that inhibits their access to traditional foods such as fish.
- Results from analysis of Gold King Mine data and samples were presented to NNEPA for discussion of future needs, and discussed with USEPA Region 9 staff at a recent meeting in Albuquerque. They also were presented at the Navajo Nation semi-annual research symposium and to President Begaye and Vice-President Nez of the Navajo Nation in October 2016.
Future Activities:
Follow up conversations with Pacific Northwest Tribes will be conducted to discuss the types of exposures they experience due to the consumption and gathering of traditional food sources on contaminated lands, and to determine how they might participate in the Center.
- In support of Aim 4, Career Development Intern Dr. Mari Eggers (EC and CEC) will be interacting with Dr. Edward Rosenberg and doctoral student Ranalda Tsosie (Navajo) at UM, who have designed a system to remove metals from home well water at lower cost than standard home water treatment methods. Dr. Eggers and John Doyle (EC and CEC) also are working on another home water treatment system being developed by the philanthropic arm of a private company.
- A database for initial results will be initiated in collaboration with our statistical and data management team to assure variables are coded and stored in a consistent manner to facilitate data extraction and analysis.
- Plans for development and participation in summer Environmental Health/Traditional Ecological Knowledge (EH/TEK) workshops will be developed by the CEC. Actual time frames for these workshops may be in seasons other than the summer, depending on the needs of the communities.
- Dr. Lewis will speak about the Center at the 2nd Tribal Environmental Health Summit at Northern Arizona University in June 2016.
- A brochure describing available speakers for tribal college webinars will be prepared and disseminated to tribal colleges, and efforts to initiate a cohort of Crow students for the undergraduate pipeline program for the following summer will begin. This effort requires connecting with the Crow community in Albuquerque to provide cultural support for a group of students traveling together to work at UNM. Initial discussion of this concept began this winter with the President of Little Big Horn College, Drs. Lewis, Gonzales, and Eggers, and John Doyle.
- We will convene the first External Steering Committee meeting in Albuquerque.
Journal Articles: 14 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other center views: | All 90 publications | 14 publications in selected types | All 14 journal articles |
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Dasher-Titus EJ, Hoover J, Luo L, Lee J-H, Du R, Liu KJ, Traber MG, Ho E, Lewis J, Hudson LG. Metal exposure and oxidative stress markers in pregnant Navajo Birth Cohort Study participants. Free Radical Biology and Medicine 2018;124:484-492. |
R836157 (2018) R836157 (2019) |
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Doyle JT, Kindness L, Realbird J, Eggers MJ, Camper AK. Challenges and opportunities for tribal waters:addressing disparities in safe public drinking water on the Crow Reservation in Montana, USA. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2018;15(4):567. |
R836157 (2018) R836157 (2019) R835594 (2018) R835594 (Final) |
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Eggers MJ, Doyle JT, Lefthand MJ, Young SL, Moore-Nall AL, Kindness L, Other Medicine R, Ford TE, Dietrich E, Parker AE, Hoover JH, Camper AK. Community engaged cumulative risk assessment of exposure to inorganic well water contaminants, Crow Reservation, Montana. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2018;15(1):76. |
R836157 (2019) R835594 (2017) R835594 (2018) R835594 (Final) |
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Eggers MJ, Doyle JT, Lefthand MJ, Young SL, Moore-Nall AL, Kindness L, Other Medicine R, Ford TE, Dietrich E, Parker AE, Hoover JH, Camper AK. Community engaged cumulative risk assessment of exposure to inorganic well water contaminants, Crow Reservation, Montana. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2018;15(1):76 (34 pp.). |
R836157 (2018) |
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Erdei E, O'Donald E, Luo L, Enright K, OlLeary M, Mackenzie D, Doyle J, Eggers M, Keil D, Lewis J, Henderson J, Rubin R. Comparison of circulating and excreted metals and of autoimmunity between two Great Plains Tribal communities. JOURNAL OF AUTOIMMUNITY 2024;149 |
R836157 (Final) |
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Girlamo C, Lin Y, Hoover J, Beene D, Woldeyohannes T, Liu Z, Campen M, MacKenzie D, Lewis J. Meteorological data source comparison-a case study in geospatial modeling of potential environmental exposure to abandoned uranium mine sites in the Navajo Nation. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT 2023;195(7):834 |
R836157 (2020) |
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Gonzales M, King E, Bobelu J, Ghahate DM, Madrid T, Lesansee S, Shah V. Perspectives on biological monitoring in environmental health research: a focus group study in a Native American community. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2018;15(6):1129 (8 pp.). |
R836157 (2018) R836157 (2019) |
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Harmon ME, Lewis J, Miller C, Hoover J, Ali AS, Shuey C, Cajero M, Lucas S, Zychowski K, Pacheco B, Erdei E, Ramone S, Nez T, Gonzales M, Campen MJ. Residential proximity to abandoned uranium mines and serum inflammatory potential in chronically exposed Navajo communities. Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology 2017;27(4):365-371. |
R836157 (2018) R836157 (2019) |
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Hoover JH, Coker E, Barney Y, Shuey C, Lewis J. Spatial clustering of metal and metalloid mixtures in unregulated water sources on the Navajo Nation – Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, USA. Science of The Total Environment 2018;633:1667-1678. |
R836157 (2018) R836157 (2019) |
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Hoover J, Gonzales M, Shuey C, Barney Y, Lewis J. Elevated arsenic and uranium concentrations in unregulated water sources on the Navajo Nation, USA. Exposure and Health 2017;9(2):113-124. |
R836157 (2016) R836157 (2017) R836157 (2019) |
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Hoover J, Coker E, Erdei E, Luo L, MacKenzie D, Lewis J. Preterm Birth and Metal Mixture Exposure among Pregnant Women from the Navajo Birth Cohort Study. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES 2023;131(12). |
R836157 (Final) |
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Lewis J, Hoover J, MacKenzie D. Mining and environmental health disparities in Native American communities. Current Environmental Health Reports 2017;4(2):130-141. |
R836157 (2017) R836157 (2019) |
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Rodriguez-Freire L, Avasarala S, Ali AS, Agnew D, Hoover JH, Artyushkova K, Latta DE, Peterson EJ, Lewis J, Crossey LJ, Brearley AJ, Cerrato JM. Post Gold King Mine spill investigation of metal stability in water and sediments of the Animas River watershed. Environmental Science & Technology 2016;50(21):11539-11548. |
R836157 (2016) R836157 (2017) R836157 (2019) |
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Saup CM, Williams KH, Rodríguez-Freire L, Cerrato JM, Johnston MD, Wilkins MJ. Anoxia stimulates microbially catalyzed metal release from Animas River sediments. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts 2017;19(4):578-585. |
R836157 (2017) R836157 (2019) |
Exit Exit |
Progress and Final Reports:
Original Abstract Subprojects under this Center: (EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
R836157C001 Metals and metal mixtures in DNA damage and repair
R836157C002 Development of biomarkers of autoimmunity in 3 tribal communities exposed to mixed metal contaminants
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.
Project Research Results
- Final Report
- 2020 Progress Report
- 2019 Progress Report
- 2018 Progress Report
- 2017 Progress Report
- Original Abstract
14 journal articles for this center