# UC Davis Environmental Health Sciences Core Center

> **NIH NIH P30** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · 2021 · $1,570,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY - Overall
The mission of the UC Davis Environmental Health Sciences Center (EHSC) is to advance understanding of
environmentally induced disease and disability and to translate this knowledge into interventions, new
practices or policy changes that reduce those exposures or mitigate their effects on health. The EHSC brings
together faculty from seven schools and colleges engaged in environmental health sciences (EHS) research
spanning molecular biosciences, environmental science, engineering, pathophysiology, biostatistics,
epidemiology, and community development, with relevance to human conditions. The EHSC has made huge
strides in less than 4 years. Among its notable achievements, the EHSC has: broken through silos,
transformed interdisciplinary collaboration into the standard modus operandi among our members, attracted
both new and established investigators, and placed environmental health on the radar of other Centers
throughout UC Davis. Increasingly, EHSC members are engaging with community stakeholders and seeking to
address community-driven questions. A few highlights of EHSC accomplishments are: 1) a novel vivarium
facility for air pollution health studies using real-time air pumped from a heavily trafficked tunnel; 2) a program
of research on exposures and health effects in response to hugely destructive wildfires now commonplace
throughout the western U.S.; 3) recruitment of many new investigators, including two underrepresented
minority women; establishment of a strong presence on social media. Guided by the NIEHS 2018-2023
Strategic Plan and the NIEHS Translational Research Framework, we adopted three overarching theme
areas: 1) interdisciplinary translational EHS linking molecular/cell culture experiments, whole animal assays,
human epidemiologic research, interventions, and policy; 2) integration of environment, social justice and
health to understand vulnerability and resilience; 3) building bridges with communities, clinicians, and policy-
makers. Layered on those broad themes, we continue to cultivate the historic UCD strengths in research on
respiratory, nervous, immune, metabolic, endocrine, and reproductive systems, and recently expanded into
cancer and climate-related health research. The Center has a Pilot Projects Program and four cores:
Administration, Integrative Health Sciences, Exposure Sciences and Community Engagement, as well as
various advisory committees. In the coming funding period, the UC Davis EHSC will expand its scope and
impact by 1) advancing cutting-edge research in exposure characterization, environmental health effects, their
molecular biologic mechanisms, and technology development for improving measurement of exposures and
biomarkers; 2) enlarging the cadre of EHS researchers, and 3) engaging with policy-makers, community
stakeholders and health professionals, to ensure relevance of our research and to translate findings into public
health improvement. The Center emphasizes inter-disci...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10190944
- **Project number:** 5P30ES023513-07
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS
- **Principal Investigator:** Irva Hertz-Picciotto
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $1,570,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2015-05-05 → 2025-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10190944

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10190944, UC Davis Environmental Health Sciences Core Center (5P30ES023513-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10190944. Licensed CC0.

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