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.

The Renewal

Environmental Health Disparities Centers Program Notice of Funding Opportunity, RFA-MD-24-010, will be holding a technical assistance webinar Thursday December 5, 2024 12:30-1:30pm Eastern Time

Register for the Technical Assistance Webinar
The Environmental Health Disparities Centers program has announced a new funding opportunity (RFA-MD-24-010) to support multidisciplinary research, capacity building and training to advance environmental health disparities and environmental justice research.

Register for the upcoming pre-application technical assistance webinar on December 5, 2024, 12:30-1:30 pm EST to learn more about this funding opportunity. Registration link: https://nih.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJItd-ivqzgrG6euxRq8A0Kmo0WL0-lAn90. Attendees must register in advance. Prospective applicants are encouraged to send questions, preferably at least 24 hours prior to the webinar, to the Scientific/Research Contact, Dr. Deborah Linares. A recording of the webinar will be posted on the NIMHD website at www.nimhd.nih.gov.