The Specialized Centers of Excellence on Environmental Health Disparities Research program is supported by NIEHS, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).
The program complements the work of the first Environmental Health Disparities Research Centers (2015-2020), which were jointly supported by NIEHS, NIMHD, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Three of these centers, briefly described below, focused on understanding and reducing or eliminating environmental health disparities, defined as inequities in population health stemming from disproportionate adverse exposures associated with the physical, chemical, social, and built environments. They were funded through a P50 grant mechanism.
Learn more about the Centers and the work they are doing to address environmental health disparities through:
- Community engagement
- Multidisciplinary research
- Research capacity building
Maternal and Infant Environmental Health Riskscape (MIEHR) Research Center
The goal of the Maternal and Infant Environmental Health Riskcape (MIEHR) Research Center is to understand the contributions of exposures in the biological, physical, social, and built environments of the environmental riskscape to environmental health disparities in pregnant women and their infants.
Center for Native American Environmental Health Research
The Center for Native American Environmental Health Research will identify emerging contaminants in tribal communities resulting from the degradation of microplastics from the open burning of solid waste and evaluate exposure and chronic disease relationships to develop mitigation strategies.
Maternal and Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors (MADRES)
The Maternal and Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors (MADRES) Center focuses on the relationships between prenatal exposures and social stressors for two critical maternal health outcomes: maternal depression and cardiovascular health in the years after childbirth.