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Environmental Health Disparities Centers

Background

A group of people putting thier hands in the center of the group.

The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) initiated the Environmental Health Disparities (EHD) Centers Program in 2011. The EHD centers conduct research, capacity building, and training across diverse disciplines and backgrounds to document the benefits and disproportionate environmental burden associated with populations experiencing health disparities.

The current centers support research projects addressing questions relevant to EHDs, and each is comprised of three cores:

Administrative: Oversees center and projects.
Community Engagement and Dissemination: Builds and sustains community stakeholders.
Investigator Development: Provides research training and pilot project program.

NIMHD and NIEHS are co-leading the program renewal in 2025.

Goals

The renewed EHD Centers program will focus on moving environmental health disparities research toward environmental justice action among local communities representing populations experiencing health disparities. This work will align with Executive Order 14096.

Intervention research projects will be prioritized using translational frameworks such as the NIEHS translational research framework and implementation science frameworks/methods.

The centers will support multidisciplinary/multilevel research, capacity building, training of early-stage investigators through pilot projects, and community-engaged approaches.

Other key aspects of the new program include highlighting the importance of Indigenous knowledges, and equitable partnerships with limited resource institutions and communities to support the scalability and sustainability of interventions.

The use of common NIH data elements and sources (i.e., PhenX Social Determinants of Health toolkit) will be encouraged to support the dissemination of results and inform policy.