Environmental Health Sciences Core Centers

Scientific collaboration and cutting-edge technologies can advance environmental health sciences. The NIEHS Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) Core Centers Program facilitates these collaborations by funding institutional infrastructure to support scientific equipment, facilities, and other resources that can be shared among environmental health researchers. By pursuing shared research questions, the EHS Core Centers identify emerging issues that advance understanding about how pollutants and other environmental factors affect human biology and may lead to disease.

Currently, there are more than 20 centers across the country. Each center has its own strategic vision and scientific focus, but all share four common goals: advancing scientific research; promoting community engagement; advancing translational research; and training new researchers.

Blount Studies Effects of Air Pollution on Tuberculosis in Vietnam
Robert Blount, M.D., a physician scientist at the University of Iowa Environmental Health Sciences Research Center, studies how exposure to air pollution affects tuberculosis risk and the body’s immune response to the lung infection.
Pearson Explores How Environmental Exposures Harm the Brain
Brandon Pearson, Ph.D., studies the role genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors play in the development of brain disorders at the Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan (CEHNM) at Columbia University.
Climate LEAP Alumna Receives 2017 President’s Environmental Youth Award
High school senior Emily Liu was awarded the President’s Environmental Youth Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for her project focused on air quality and renewable energy. Liu’s project was inspired by her involvement in the Climate Leadership and Energy Awareness Program (Climate LEAP), which is funded in part by the Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility (CEHS) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Carrie Breton Discusses Air Pollution and Children’s Health on Science Friday
Carrie Breton, Sc.D., answered questions about how exposure to air pollution during pregnancy can affect fetal development on a September 2018 episode of Science Friday.
New Video Raises Awareness of Detroit’s Environmental Health Issues
A new video highlights how NIEHS grantees are raising awareness of the environmental health issues in Detroit. The video was created by the Center for Urban Responses to Environmental Stressors (CURES) at Wayne State University.