Highlights

Diet may play a role in the development of dangerous high blood pressure disorders in late pregnancy among Hispanic women, according to research at the Maternal and Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors (MADRES) Center for Environmental Health Disparities.

Climate change and related weather disasters are ongoing threats to health equity in underprivileged communities, said Robert Bullard, Ph.D., during the fourth installment of the NIH Climate Change and Health Seminar Series. Bullard co-directs the Maternal and Infant Environmental Health Riskscape Research Center at the Baylor College of Medicine.

Gary Adamkiewicz, Ph.D., who directed one of the projects for the Center for Research on Environmental and Social Stressors in Housing Across the Life Course (CRESSH) works with community groups in Massachusetts to reduce housing-related exposures disparities.

Joseph Hoover, Ph.D., of the University of New Mexico Center for Native American Environmental Health Equity Research, uses modeling tools to help address tribal communities’ concerns about exposure to contaminants from abandoned mines and other potentially toxic sites.

Access to safe drinking water is not universal across the U.S., said Paloma Beamer, Ph.D., during a talk on exposure to environmental contaminants in minority and rural populations.

Low-income Hispanic women who are exposed to high levels of air pollution during mid-pregnancy may be at greater risk of depression one year postpartum, according to researchers from the Maternal and Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors (MADRES) Center for Environmental Health Disparities.

In an NIEHS podcast, Robert Bullard, Ph.D., shares his knowledge and insights from more than 40 years as a leading voice in the environmental justice movement.

Elaine Symanski, Ph.D., co-director of the Maternal and Infant Environmental Health Riskscape Research Center, works with Houston communities to understand how biological, physical, social, and built environments affect maternal and infant health.

The NIEHS-funded Maternal and Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors (MADRES) Center for Environmental Health Disparities has developed an interactive story map that depicts how certain Los Angeles communities are faring during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NIH-EPA Environmental Health Disparities Research Centers of Excellence hosted a series of webinars highlighting the research, training, and community-engagement accomplishments of the centers, funded in part by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The webinar series was created to raise awareness of and encourage the discussion of opportunities to examine and address environmental contributions to health disparities.

The webinar series, begun in February 2021, covers a range of topics from the Use of Big Data to Characterize Social and Environmental Determinants of Health Disparities to Exposure Pathways & Environmental Health Disparities. The full list of topics can be viewed online along with the slide presentations. The webinars enabled the early career investigators and community partners to highlight their work within the center program. The webinars were well attended with participants from academia, federal and state government, and community organizations. New webinars are slated for September 2021 through November 2021.

The webinars are open to anyone who is interested in learning more about environmental health disparities and strategies to mitigate them. There are three presentations currently slated for September 2021 through November 2021. The webinars are open to anyone who is interested in learning more about environmental health disparities and strategies to mitigate them.