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.
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EHS Core Center Researchers Advance Beauty Justice
Tamarra James-Todd, Ph.D., of the Harvard University EHS Core Center, and Ami Zota, Ph.D., of the Columbia University EHS Core Center, are leaders in field of beauty justice, which addresses the health and exposure inequities related to chemicals in beauty and personal care products. -
Documentary Film Features Research and Advocacy for Domestic Worker Health and Safety
The NIEHS-funded Environmental Health Sciences Core Center at the University of California, Davis released a documentary in January 2023 that describes workers’ quest to improve their health and safety within the household domestic service industry in California. The documentary,"Dignidad: Domestic Workers’ Journey for Justice in California,” features results from a report that describes how the COVID-19 pandemic affected these workers. -
Baylor Center Awardee Helps Community Address Water Contamination Concerns
In response to community concerns about water contamination from the Jones Road Superfund site, University of Texas Medical Branch researcher Lance Hallberg, Ph.D., is providing Houston residents the data they need to make informed decisions about their health. His research is supported through a pilot project award from the NIEHS-funded Gulf Coast Center for Precision Environmental Health. -
EHS Core Center Researchers Shine at SOT Conference
Researchers from NIEHS Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) Core Centers were recognized for their contributions to scientific discovery, mentorship, and education at the 2023 Society of Toxicology (SOT) conference, held March 19-23 in Nashville, Tennessee. Acknowledged for their individual research and training endeavors, six Core Center scientists received awards at the conference. -
CACHET Center Helps Protect Chicago Community from Car-Shredding Operation
When a car-shredding company announced plans to move to a southeast Chicago neighborhood, researchers from the NIEHS-funded ChicAgo Center for Health and EnvironmenT (CACHET) stepped in to address community concerns about air pollution emissions from the facility. -
PFAS-free Furniture Leads to Lower Levels of the Chemicals in Buildings
Buildings renovated with furniture free of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) had significantly lower levels of the chemicals in dust compared to buildings with conventional furnishings, according to NIEHS-funded researchers from the Harvard University Environmental Health Sciences Core Center (Core Center). -
Science Cafés: Brewing Conversations in Rural Iowa and Beyond
For more than a decade, scientists from the NIEHS-funded Environmental Health Sciences Core Center at the University of Iowa have hosted informal gatherings called Science Cafés where the public can connect with scientists. Led by Center members Brandi Janssen, Ph.D., and Jackie Curnick, M.D.P., an evaluation of the events revealed that information shared at Science Cafés trickles out to the broader community via social networks.
About Core Centers
About the EHS Core Centers Program
The EHS Core Centers Program brings together researchers to tackle related environmental health questions.
Community Engagement Cores
Community Engagement Cores translate and disseminate Center research results into information community members, decision makers, and public health professionals can use to protect and improve public health.
Environmental Health Sciences Core Centers Grantees
There are more than 20 EHS Core Centers around the country, many of which have a long history of NIEHS support.
Center Spotlight
EHS Core Center Researchers Advance Beauty Justice
Tamarra James-Todd, Ph.D., of the Harvard University EHS Core Center, and Ami Zota, Ph.D., of the Columbia University EHS Core Center, are leaders in field of beauty justice, which addresses the health and exposure inequities related to chemicals in beauty and personal care products.
Documentary Film Features Research and Advocacy for Domestic Worker Health and Safety
The NIEHS-funded Environmental Health Sciences Core Center at the University of California, Davis released a documentary in January 2023 that describes workers’ quest to improve their health and safety within the household domestic service industry in California. The documentary,"Dignidad: Domestic Workers’ Journey for Justice in California,” features results from a report that describes how the COVID-19 pandemic affected these workers.
EHS Core Center Researchers Shine at SOT Conference
Researchers from NIEHS Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) Core Centers were recognized for their contributions to scientific discovery, mentorship, and education at the 2023 Society of Toxicology (SOT) conference, held March 19-23 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Acknowledged for their individual research and training endeavors, six Core Center scientists received awards at the conference.
Baylor Center Awardee Helps Community Address Water Contamination Concerns
In response to community concerns about water contamination from the Jones Road Superfund site, University of Texas Medical Branch researcher Lance Hallberg, Ph.D., is providing Houston residents the data they need to make informed decisions about their health. His research is supported through a pilot project award from the NIEHS-funded Gulf Coast Center for Precision Environmental Health.
CACHET Center Helps Protect Chicago Community from Car-Shredding Operation
When a car-shredding company announced plans to move to a southeast Chicago neighborhood, researchers from the NIEHS-funded ChicAgo Center for Health and EnvironmenT (CACHET) stepped in to address community concerns about air pollution emissions from the facility.
PFAS-free Furniture Leads to Lower Levels of the Chemicals in Buildings
Buildings renovated with furniture free of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) had significantly lower levels of the chemicals in dust compared to buildings with conventional furnishings, according to NIEHS-funded researchers from the Harvard University Environmental Health Sciences Core Center (Core Center).
Science Cafés: Brewing Conversations in Rural Iowa and Beyond
For more than a decade, scientists from the NIEHS-funded Environmental Health Sciences Core Center at the University of Iowa have hosted informal gatherings called Science Cafés where the public can connect with scientists. Led by Center members Brandi Janssen, Ph.D., and Jackie Curnick, M.D.P., an evaluation of the events revealed that information shared at Science Cafés trickles out to the broader community via social networks.
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