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The Pilot EPA-NIMHD Centers of Excellence on Environment and Health Disparities: A Summary of Accomplishments
Citation:
Breville, M. The Pilot EPA-NIMHD Centers of Excellence on Environment and Health Disparities: A Summary of Accomplishments. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-17/402, 2017.
Impact/Purpose:
In 2012, EPA and NIMHD formed a partnership to established ten pilot transdisciplinary Centers of Excellence for Environment and Health Disparities (EHD) research. The Pilot EHD Centers have focused on research and tool development, community outreach and engagement, as well as education and training. This report provides a summary of their accomplishments and impacts.
Description:
Minorities and economically-disadvantaged communities continue to bear a disproportionately large burden of the exposures to environmental stressors that are associated with adverse health outcomes. Federal efforts to alleviate such health disparities began in the early 1990s. The focus of this report, is the collaborative research agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), which funded 10 pilot transdisciplinary academic research on environment and health disparities, including the biological, physical, chemical, social, psychosocial, economic, and environmental determinants. The Pilot EPA-NIMHD EHD Centers of Excellence have focused on research and tool development, community outreach and engagement, as well as education and training. The centers have conducted research to identify environmental health disparities, develop solutions to these disparities, and collect and synthesize disparity data. Pilot EHD Center research staff have engaged with their communities in order to form collaborations to inform evidence-based policies, involve the communities in the research process to empower sustainable solutions, and developed community education resources. The Pilot EHD Centers supported the education and training of students, professionals, and the community in several ways, including involving students in their research and community outreach, training professionals and community members on topics related to EHDs, incorporating EHD research and topics into their university’s curriculum, and sharing EHD research at meetings, workshops, and conferences around the world. Specific examples of these impacts from each of the centers are highlighted in this report.