Center for Community Health: Addressing Regional Maryland Environmental Determinants of Disease

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ABSTRACT (OVERALL) The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) proposes the creation of the Center for Community Health: Addressing Regional Maryland Environmental Determinants of Diseases (CHARMED). The strategic vision of the Center is to serve as the nexus of community-engaged environmental research at JHU and in the Maryland region (Washington DC, Baltimore (referred to as CHARM City) and Pennsylvania) by providing focus, research, and leadership for promotion of transformative environmental health science research that will improve human health. The overarching mission is to understand how exposures to environmental factors cause adverse health outcomes and then to translate these findings into action to protect and promote the health and well-being of vulnerable communities in the Maryland region. This mission has been informed by and will continue to be guided by strong partnerships between community leaders and CHARMED members (59) drawn from the JHU and the University of Maryland at College Park. The synergistic combination of basic, population and community- engagement scientists within CHARMED promotes translational research that addresses fundamental questions and translates knowledge into action to have a major impact on human health in the Maryland region, consistent with the NIEHS Strategic Plan. Our mission is accomplished through five aims. Aim 1: Advance translational environmental health research that will improve community health outcomes in the Maryland region as it relates to the thematic foci of the Center. The Thematic Research Groups are: 1) Cardiorespiratory Health and Airborne Contaminants; 2) Chemical Mixtures and Emerging Contaminants, and Health; 3) Community, Social, and Environmental Determinants of Health; and 4) Neurological Health. Aim 2. Promote translation of data to knowledge to action by creating and strengthening strategic partnerships with communities and stakeholders to address environmental health challenges and help set the research agenda of CHARMED using community- engaged research approaches (Community Engagement Core). Aim 3. Establish and support a facility core structure [Integrated Health Sciences Facility Core (IHSFC), and Exposure Characterization and Modeling Facility Core (ECMC)] that enables the mission. The IHSFC will provide assistance with human subject study design, and employ biostatistical, big data, and bioinformatic analyses and integrate “omics” including metabolomics data to predict adverse outcomes. Aim 4. Build capacity in environmental health through a comprehensive strategy that includes fostering (career development, Core Workshops), and supporting (ESI Mentored Scholars Program, pilot funds, access to facility cores) both early stage and senior investigators conducting community environmental health research for the first time. Harnessing the scientific capacity of the Center will facilitate translation of the Center’s research findings into evidence-based approaches for environmental exposure mitigation and disease prevention to improve human health in Maryland and beyond.