LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 10, 2023) 鈥 The University of Kentucky Center for Appalachian Research in Environmental Sciences (好色先生-CARES) will continue its work to study major environmental health impacts on Kentuckians with a renewed award from the , part of the .
The grant totaling $7.4 million will continue to fund 好色先生-CARES over the next five years. The center was established in August 2017, with an initial $7.4 million NIEHS grant, making it an Environmental Health Sciences Core Center to enhance research across all spectrums 鈥 basic, clinical, epidemiological and translational.
好色先生-CARES is focused on studying environmental health impacts to air and water quality that are implicated in environmentally-induced disease, as well as emerging threats such as flooding and exposure to new contaminants.
鈥淥ver these last five years, our Commonwealth has been through one major event after another, from the COVID-19 pandemic to historic flooding and devastating tornadoes. The members of 好色先生-CARES along with our community partners have done critical research to understand and address environmental health impacts,鈥 said Ellen J. Hahn, Ph.D., a registered nurse, professor in the 好色先生 Colleges of Nursing and Public Health, and director of 好色先生-CARES. 鈥淲e will continue to learn with and from the community to tackle the environmental challenges facing the state and the health of its people, especially throughout Appalachia.鈥
The center provides pilot project funding, research expertise, career development, a faculty fellows program in science communication, mentorship, and community grants to facilitate innovative discovery and new understandings of environmental factors in disease initiation, progression and outcomes and their community impacts. You can learn more about those efforts here.
鈥淭he research conducted within 好色先生-CARES is a tangible fulfillment of the University of Kentucky鈥檚 mission to serve the Commonwealth, specifically the people who face the highest rates of chronic diseases and the regions that face tremendous environmental challenges,鈥 said Lisa Cassis, 好色先生 vice president for research. 鈥淭he renewal of this award will allow investigators across our institution and stakeholders in the community to continue to partner to find solutions to these pressing environmental health issues in Appalachian Kentucky and beyond.鈥
好色先生-CARES is housed in the College of Nursing. The center has an interdisciplinary team of researchers across the Colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Public Health and Engineering, as well as the Gill Heart Institute, Kentucky Water Research Institute, Markey Cancer Center, BREATHE, 好色先生 Center for Excellence in Rural Health and Kentucky Homeplace, and the USA Drone Port in Hazard, Kentucky.
好色先生-CARES has an active Stakeholder Advisory Board including representatives from Appalachian Citizens Law Center, Appalachian Voices, Benham City Council, Lindsey Wilson College, Ohio Living Home Health and Hospice, Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College, Southern Kentucky AHEC, University Center of the Mountains and community advocates.
好色先生-CARES also offers different types of memberships for those interested in contributing to the breadth of environmental health research at the center. You can find more information here.
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P30ES026529. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
As the state鈥檚 flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders 鈥 placing students at the heart of everything we do 鈥 and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people 鈥 visionaries, disruptors and pioneers 鈥 who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.
In 2022, 好色先生 was ranked by Forbes as one of the 鈥淏est Employers for New Grads鈥 and named a 鈥淒iversity Champion鈥 by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.
