# Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net) - Practice Based Research to Improve Food Safety In New York State

> **NIH ALLCDC U01** · NYSDOH/HEALTH RESEARCH, INC. · 2021 · $192,587

## Abstract

Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net) – Practice Based Research to
 Improve Food Safety in New York State
RFA-EH-20-001
Project Summary/Abstract
The New York State Department of Health has been a leader in protecting and advancing the health
of New Yorkers through a comprehensive network of public health activities and services. The
complexity of the state, from densely populated urban, to rural and suburban areas, the diversity
of the state with respect to race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, warrants a public health
system that is comprehensive and flexible to govern the state's public health successfully.
Since the EHS-Net's inception in 2000, there have been a number of critical barriers to overcome.
In regards to foodborne outbreak situations and environmental assessments, the geographic size of
NYS can be challenging when coordinating a rapid and effective response. Over the past number
of years, some state and local departments have experienced as much as a 30% reduction in staff
due to retirements and attrition. To overcome these barriers, in part, the specific aims of this project
involves engaging and strengthening the partnership with other State and local partners from
environmental health, disease surveillance and laboratory authorities to improve environmental
assessment data collection and foodborne disease outbreak investigations, establish and implement
program evaluations and compare to national standards and disseminate educational materials to
the public through a variety of mechanisms. This will allow local health departments and State
personnel from numerous agencies to apply best practices and interventions using national
standards and new forms of technology identified by EHS-Net, the Council to Improve Foodborne
Outbreak Response (CIFOR); and Centers of Excellence and other Rapid Response Teams (RRT)
to improve the overall health and safety of New Yorkers.
The nature of outbreaks and investigations has changed considerably with the implementation of
new laboratory techniques such as pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and Whole Genome
Sequencing (WGS). Sporadic cases of illness across many jurisdictions can now be linked to a
common source by using PFGE technology and WGS, the complete DNA make-up of an organism
can be determined to enable us to better understand variations both within and between species.
These new technologies, including computerized sharing of information, will allow us to perform
basic foodborne pathogen identification during foodborne illness outbreaks and apply it in novel
ways that have the potential to help reduce foodborne illness. The use of these technologies and
our collaboration across programs will improve investigations of illness clusters or outbreaks.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10259642
- **Project number:** 5U01EH001367-02
- **Recipient organization:** NYSDOH/HEALTH RESEARCH, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** David Nicholas
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $192,587
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-09-30 → 2025-09-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10259642

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10259642, Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net) - Practice Based Research to Improve Food Safety In New York State (5U01EH001367-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10259642. Licensed CC0.

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