Grantee Research Project Results

Final Report: Environmental Health Disparities Research Core

EPA Grant Number: NIMHD001
Title: Environmental Health Disparities Research Core
Investigators: Boutin-Foster, Carla , Watkins, Beverly , Reyes, Damaris , Olden, Ken , Charlson, Mary
Institution: Weill Cornell Medical College , Cornell University
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: August 1, 2012 through July 31, 2014
Project Amount: $860,901
RFA: Transdisciplinary Networks of Excellence on the Environment and Health Disparities (2012) RFA Text |  Recipients Lists
Research Category: Environmental Justice , Human Health

Objective:

Following a true community-based participatory research model, community stakeholders were not only participants in the EH Core, but also were researchers who engage in all phases of research proposal development, planning, design, implementation, analysis and dissemination. The primary aim of the Environmental Health Disparities Research Core (EH Core) was to give CEDREC the capacity to collaboratively examine environmental factors that drive health disparities and develop innovative and transdisciplinary solutions. The specific programmatic aims of the Environmental Core were articulated within the four existing cores of CEDREC and included:

• Collaboratively prioritizing key areas of environmental disparities and identifying optimal ways to intervene through research or policy. To accomplish this aim, we analyzed surveys with community stakeholders.

• Expanding opportunities for developing careers in environmental health research by broadening the health disparities track of the established Master of Science Program in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services Research to include an environmental health disparities seminar series taught jointly by members of the Community Steering Committee (CSC) and Scientific Steering Committee.

• Disseminating key findings to stakeholders by partnering with the CSC in the dissemination of findings via webinars, town hall meetings, and peer-reviewed manuscripts.

• Building community partner capacity through the development of community health profiles that serve as a resource for collaborators.

Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):

1) Accomplishments

We continued to be productive and actively build research infrastructure to elucidate environmental health disparities. A brief overview of our progress toward achieving our specific aims follows:

A)   Collaboratively prioritized key areas of environmental disparities and identifying optimal ways to intervene through research and/or policy.

Community dialogues and community surveys: Community survey collection began in May 2012 with a series of introductory community meetings to inform local residents of the project. The survey was translated into Chinese and the Chinese version was submitted to the IRB for approval. Two Spanish and one Chinese-speaking survey administrators were trained to conduct Spanish-language surveys in South Bronx and LES and Chinese language surveys in Chinatown.

Training of CSC to administer surveys: As outlined in the revision application, environmental public health community stewards from each of the five CSC communities underwent HIPAA and IRB training under Dr. Watkins’ guidance. A total of 10 members of our partner CBOs were HIPAA and IRB certified.

B)   Expanded opportunities for developing careers in environmental health research by broadening the health disparities track of an established Master of Science Program in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services Research included a new environmental health disparities research seminar series.

• An environmental health disparities research seminar series was developed that focused on:

o  Land Use and Transportation Justice

o  Social Justice

o  Food Justice

o  Housing Justice

o  Economic Justice

o  Epigenetics

o  Children’s Environmental Health

o  Soil Contaminants

o  The use of GIS to examine environmental determinants of health

C)   Disseminated key findings to stakeholders in partnership with the CSC via webinars, town hall meetings, and peer-reviewed manuscripts.

•     As indicated above, the Administrative Core has organized and integrated topics on environmental health, environmental justice, and environmental policy into the existing schedule of CEDREC health disparities lectures.

D)   Built community partner capacity through the development of community health profiles that will serve as a resource for collaborators.

•     We partnered with the New York City Department of Health, Data Unit, Bureau of Epidemiology Services Statistics Branch, led by Dr. Kevin Konty to overlay health data onto the community profiles. We hired a Columbia Doctoral student, interning with Dr. Konty, to create small area estimates of the community partner catchment areas, disaggregate the health data accordingly and map it so that, in collaboration with the research assistants, the final set of community profiles were created.

Community profiles were presented to the five partners and edited as requested thereafter. Comprehensive Community Environmental Profiles all share the following characteristics: Demographics, Land Use, Surface Analysis, Water Systems, Transportation, Air Quality, Food Systems, Schools and Open Spaces, 311 Complaints - (used as a supporting data where applicable). The five partners were:

1) Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice (YMPJ): Land Use and Transportation Justice;

2) Mothers on the Move (MOM): Social Justice;

3) Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE): Food Justice;

4) Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES): Housing Justice; and

5) Chinese Progress Association (CPA): Economic Justice.

•    The CSC held two web-based conferences to discuss the community profiles and surveys.

Conclusions:

2) Technical aspects of the project

We completed comprehensive environmental public health databases for each community partner catchment area. The community profiles included: Socioeconomic and demographic indicators, including ethnicity, income levels, housing, census and employment data; Condition of the environment, both natural and built: indoor and outdoor air quality, surface and ground water quality, food safety, contamination of soils, and placement of noxious land uses and sites; Environmental factors contributing to the local environmental health risk including emissions from vehicles, industry, such as dry cleaners, and power plants; use of pesticides, waste removal and disposal; Availability of health care services (outreach and services by agency, clinic, hospital, first responders); Ecological data on land use changes and flooding risk related to climate change.

3)  How the funded research leads to understanding of environmental problems

The comprehensive Center of Excellence in Disparities Research and Community Engagement Environmental Health Core provided public health services to the community partner organizations. An environmental health disparities research seminar series was added. It consisted of five applied community partner led seminars focused on their current local Environmental Justice work. They were:

1) Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice (YMPJ): Land Use and Transportation Justice;

2) Mothers on the Move (MOM): Social Justice;

3) Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE): Food Justice;

4) Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES): Housing Justice; and

5) Chinese Progress Association (CPA): Economic Justice

4) Completed presentations/publications

Watkins, BX. Presentation at the NIMHD Health Disparities Summit 2012
 

5) There is no computer modeling, only the compilation of existing data.

Journal Articles:

No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 1 publications for this project

Supplemental Keywords:

Air quality, collaborative research, community-academic partnerships, community-based participatory research, cumulative effects, decision making, diet, drinking water, ecological effects, epidemiology, effects, ethnic groups, environmentally conscious manufacturing, genetics, health effects, heavy metals, mobile sources, nutrition, particulates, population, public good, psychology, race, risk, risk assessment, sensitive populations, socio-economic, sociological, stressor, susceptibility, toxins, toxic substances, urban planning, vulnerability, water

Progress and Final Reports:

Original Abstract

2012 Progress Report

2013 Progress Report