P20MD019994

Equity and climate opportunities for health (ECO-HEALTH) center - abstract (overall)

Climate change is an unprecedented threat intensifying health risks and disparities.

Social and structural factors like material need insecurities and the built environment converge with climate change to amplify health harms for disproportionately impacted groups, and these factors can be targeted to improve communities’ resilience to climate-sensitive exposures.

California is an ideal test bed for pioneering climate-health solutions, as a global leader in climate action with extensive experience on the frontlines of climate change and with diverse climate-affected communities.

The proposed Equity and Climate Opportunities for Health (ECO-HEALTH) Center at the University of California will use a precision climate and health approach to build a pipeline of epidemiological and community-engaged research characterizing how modifiable social and structural factors shape key health outcomes and disparities across the lifespan in the context of climate-sensitive exposures.

The center will channel this evidence into equitable climate resilience solutions co-developed and implemented with disproportionately impacted communities.

To achieve these goals, the ECO-HEALTH Center will undertake three specific aims.

Aim 1 will be to develop and sustain diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA)-centered researcher training and career development programs, using a foundation of adaptive expertise, to foster the development of early-career, under-represented, and community-based researchers who can generate actionable climate-health knowledge.

This will include mentorship, training in state-of-the-art methods, including machine learning, implementation science, and community-engaged research, and evidence-to-policy translation to support transdisciplinary projects.

In Aim 2, through a research project, data dashboard, and pilot projects, the ECO-HEALTH Center will generate localized evidence and action-oriented research strategies to address climate and health justice.

Researchers will employ cutting-edge methods to uncover multi-dimensional climate-health vulnerabilities in the contexts of extreme heat and wildfire smoke as well as their co-occurrence, and model hypothetical resilience interventions at the local level.

Findings will inform targeted, co-designed strategies to alleviate disparities through modifications of the built environment and reduced material need insecurities.

Fundamental to this work will be the center’s commitment to developing and maintaining strong, collaborative academic-community research partnerships that are rooted in the principles of equity and justice and embrace the goal of achieving tangible, equitable health benefits for all.

In Aim 3, a community engagement core will follow principles of environmental justice to facilitate community perspectives, disseminate actionable findings, and build capacity.

Ultimately, the ECO-HEALTH Center will pioneer a framework for health equity solutions generalizable across climate-health challenges in the U.S. and worldwide, and will build an innovative, adaptive, and transdisciplinary community of practice prepared to meet the evolving health and equity challenges arising from climate change.

San Francisco Regents Of The University Of California

TO SUPPORT BASIC, CLINICAL, SOCIAL, AND BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH, PROMOTE RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRAINING, FOSTER EMERGING PROGRAMS, DISSEMINATE INFORMATION, AND REACH OUT TO MINORITY AND OTHER HEALTH DISPARITY COMMUNITIES. THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES (NIMHD) HAS ESTABLISHED PROGRAMS TO PURSUE THESE GOALS: (1) THE CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE PROGRAM PROMOTES RESEARCH TO IMPROVE MINORITY HEALTH AND/OR REDUCE AND ELIMINATE HEALTH DISPARITIES, BUILDS RESEARCH CAPACITY FOR MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES RESEARCH IN ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS, ENCOURAGES PARTICIPATION OF HEALTH DISPARITY GROUPS AND COMMUNITIES IN BIOMEDICAL AND BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION ACTIVITIES, AND BRINGS TOGETHER INVESTIGATORS FROM RELEVANT DISCIPLINES IN A MANNER THAT WILL ENHANCE AND EXTEND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THEIR RESEARCH, (2) NIMHD RESEARCH ENDOWMENT PROGRAM BUILDS RESEARCH CAPACITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE AT ELIGIBLE NIMHD CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE OR ELIGIBLE SECTION 736 HEALTH PROFESSIONS SCHOOLS (42 U.S.C. 293) TO FACILITATE MINORITY HEALTH AND OTHER HEALTH DISPARITIES RESEARCH TO CLOSE THE DISPARITY GAP IN THE BURDEN OF ILLNESS AND DEATH EXPERIENCED BY RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITY AMERICANS AND OTHER HEALTH DISPARITY POPULATIONS, PROMOTES A DIVERSE AND STRONG SCIENTIFIC, TECHNOLOGICAL AND ENGINEERING WORKFORCE, AND EMPHASIZES THE RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES AND OTHER SOCIO-ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED POPULATIONS IN THE FIELDS OF BIOMEDICAL AND BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND OTHER AREAS OF THE SCIENTIFIC WORKFORCE, (3) THE CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DISPARITIES RESEARCH TO STIMULATE BASIC AND APPLIED RESEARCH ON ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DISPARITIES, (4) MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH TRAINING PROGRAM (MHIRT) AWARDS ENABLE U.S. INSTITUTIONS TO TAILOR SHORT-TERM BASIC SCIENCE, BIOMEDICAL AND BEHAVIORAL MENTORED STUDENT INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES TO ADDRESS GLOBAL ISSUES RELATED TO UNDERSTANDING, REDUCING, AND ELIMINATING HEALTH DISPARITIES, (5) SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM INCREASES PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, ENCOURAGES SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND FOSTERS AND ENCOURAGES PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION, (6) SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM STIMULATES AND FOSTERS SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, FOSTERS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, INCREASES PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND FOSTERS AND ENCOURAGES PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAG

93.113 - Environmental Health

National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) [HHS - NIH]

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) [HHS - NIH]

San Francisco, California 94143 United States

Single Zip Code

Exploratory Grants for Climate Change and Health Research Center Development (P20 Clinical Trial Optional) (RFA-ES-23-007)