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Grantee Research Project Results

Research Centers
Southern Center on Environmentally Driven Disparities in Birth Outcomes

Duke University

The central mission of the Southern Center on Environmentally-Driven Disparities in Birth Outcomes is to determine how environmental, social, and host factors jointly contribute to health disparities in birth outcomes. Although it is widely agreed that maternal and fetal health and well-being are determined by multiple forces, surprisingly little is known about the interactions of those forces. For example, elevated environmental exposures often occur in communities facing multiple social stressors like deteriorating housing, inadequate access to health care, poor schools, high unemployment, high crime, and high poverty — all of which may compound the effects of environmental exposures. This phenomenon is especially severe for low income and minority pregnant mothers, with significant health implications for the fetuses they carry. In addition, despite an emerging consensus that numerous gene- environment interactions determine maternal and child health, we know little about how genetic and environmental factors combine to promote or prevent adverse outcomes. This center seeks to disentangle these complicated effects by combining rapidly evolving methods in spatial statistics, genetics, and proteomics, in complementary human and animal models of birth outcomes.

Low birthweight (LBW), preterm birth (PTB), and fetal growth restriction (FGR) all exhibit documented disparities across subpopulations. Survivors of LBW and PTB are at significant risk for both short-term neonatal morbidity as well as long-term disabilities, including respiratory distress syndrome, variable heart rate, cerebral ventriculomegaly, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, blindness, deafness, learning disabilities, behavioral disabilities, and motor impairment. Of similar importance is the impact of lower birth weight on increased risk of diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and other health problems in adulthood. Thus, understanding, and eventually intervening, to prevent these adverse birth outcomes is of critical importance to the overall health of the nation.

View Projects in List Format

  Identifier Abstract Principal
Investigator
Annual/
Final
Reports
Pubs Count Institution Grant
Representative
Grant
Amount
Project
Period
1 R830093
Centers




- Main center abstract - Center for Air, Climate, and Energy Solutions
The Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (CEINT) Wiesner, Mark R.

- Principal Investigators listed are
sub-PIs determined by the center.
 
  Duke University, Carnegie Mellon University, Clemson University, Howard University, North Carolina State University, Purdue University, Rice University, Stanford University, University of Kentucky, Virginia Tech Hahn, Intaek   $1,000,000   September 01, 2008 -
September 01, 2013  
2 R833293
Centers




- Main center abstract - The Center for Study of Neurodevelopment and Improving Children's Health
Southern Center on Environmentally-Driven Disparities in Birth Outcomes Miranda , Marie Lynn
Ashley-Koch, Allison
Auten, Richard
Foster, W. Michael
Gelfand, Alan
Gibson-Davis, Christina
Goodall, Jonathan
James, Sherman
Keating, Martha H.
Maxson, Pamela
Myers, Evan
Reiter, Jerome
Speer, Marcy
Swamy, Geeta
Tootoo, Joshua
Williams, Redford

- Principal Investigators listed are
sub-PIs determined by the center.
 
Row 2: 2007

Row 2: 2008

Row 2: 2009

Row 2: 2010

Row 2: 2011

Row 2: 2012

Row 2: Final

Row 2 Total Pubs: 162
Row 2 Journals: 76
Row 2 Books: 1
 
Duke University Callan, Richard   $7,735,620   May 01, 2007 -
April 30, 2012
(Extended to April 30, 2014)  
3 R834799
Centers




- Main center abstract - The Southeastern Center for Air Pollution and Epidemiology: Multiscale Measurements and Modeling of Mixtures
Multi-Scale Assessment of Health Effects of Air Pollution Mixtures Using Novel Measurements and Models Tolbert, Paige
Weber, Rodney J.
Barry, Vaughn
Bergin, Michael
Bilonick, Richard
Chang, Howard
Darrow, Lyndsey
Diaz-Sanchez, David
Fitzpatrick, Anne
Flanders, Dana
Greenwald, Roby
Guensler, Randy
Hu, Yongtao
Klein, Mitchel
Liu, Yang
Mulholland, James
Nenes, Athanasios
Odman, Mehmet Talat
Russell, Armistead G.
Sarnat, Jeremy
Sarnat, Stefanie Ebelt
Strickland, Matthew J
Talbott, Evelynn
Waller, Lance
Winquist, Andrea

- Principal Investigators listed are
sub-PIs determined by the center.
 
Row 3: 2011

Row 3: 2012

Row 3: 2013

Row 3: 2014

Row 3: 2015

Row 3: 2016

Row 3: Final

Row 3 Total Pubs: 338
Row 3 Journals: 135
Row 3 Books: 4
 
Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Duke University Chung, Serena   $7,999,779   January 01, 2011 -
December 31, 2016  
4 R835437
Centers




- Main center abstract - The Center for Study of Neurodevelopment and Improving Children's Health
Neurodevelopment and Improving Children's Health following EtS exposure (NICHES) Murphy, Susan K.
Engelhardt, Barbara
Fuemmeler, Bernard
Hall, Brandon
Hoyo, Cathrine
Kollins, Scott H
Levin, Edward D
Satterwhite, Lisa
Schechter, Julia
Seidler, Frederick
Slotkin, Theodore
Wylie, Jamie
Zhang, Weiwei

- Principal Investigators listed are
sub-PIs determined by the center.
 
Row 4: 2013

Row 4: 2014

Row 4: 2015

Row 4: 2016

Row 4: 2017

Row 4: Final

Row 4 Total Pubs: 116
Row 4 Journals: 32
Row 4 Books: 6
 
Duke University Hahn, Intaek   $3,907,780   June 01, 2013 -
May 31, 2018
(Extended to May 31, 2019)  

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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.

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Last updated April 28, 2023
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