# Diversity Supplement to the Transitions from Impaired Respiratory Health to Lung Disease

> **NIH NIH R01** · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $64,738

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The goal of this diversity supplement is to facilitate Dr. Daniel Meza's development as an independent physician-
scientist and a leader in respiratory epidemiology, with a focus on the primary prevention and interception of
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This diversity supplement for a post-doctoral award in support of Dr.
Meza will aid his career development as a physician-investigator focused on understanding the impact of social
environments on future lung health and disease. This will allow the candidate to develop the necessary skills
and leverage study findings for the submission of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) career development (K)
award prior to completing the supplement. This work exploring novel risk factors for impaired respiratory health
is aligned with the parent grant and its central hypotheses. The candidate and his mentors have designed a
specific training plan that builds upon his background in internal medicine, pulmonary medicine, and clinical
investigation and aims toward launching his career as an independent investigator. This plan includes developing
additional skills during the award period through (1) coursework designed to expand his knowledge and training
in clinical research techniques, (2) interaction with a multidisciplinary team of sponsors and collaborators,
including those in pulmonary and epidemiology, and (3) a supervised research project with national funding.
The overall scientific objective of this project is to identify neighborhood factors that impair respiratory health
through two primary specific aims: (1) determine whether neighborhood factors (green space, walkability index,
and exposure to crime/violence) in young adulthood are associated with respiratory symptoms and decline in
lung function over 20-25 years of follow-up and (2) To determine whether neighborhood factors in young
adulthood are associated with greater risk of emphysema and lung injury later in life. This will be the first study
to obtain and analyze neighborhood factors in the Coronary Artery Disease Risk in Young Adults (CARDIA)
cohort. The CARDIA cohort has multiple strengths, including the original enrollment of young adults aged 18-30,
51% of participants identifying as Black or African-American, and having 35 years of follow-up data. It is essential
to identify risk factors for decline of lung health and development of chronic lung abnormalities. We plan to
expand on our prior work, which examined neighborhood deprivation, to now investigate specific neighborhood
factors and their association with developing respiratory symptoms, decline in FEV1, and development of lung
disease. Our proposal advances the goal of NHLBI Workshop on the Primary Prevention of Chronic Lung
Diseases by looking at neighborhood factors as a novel trigger that in the future can be analyzed to intercept
future chronic lung disease.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10414648
- **Project number:** 3R01HL122477-07S1
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** RAVI KALHAN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $64,738
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2021-09-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10414648

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10414648, Diversity Supplement to the Transitions from Impaired Respiratory Health to Lung Disease (3R01HL122477-07S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10414648. Licensed CC0.

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