# HERCULES: Exposome Research Center

> **NIH NIH P30** · EMORY UNIVERSITY · 2023 · $269,407

## Abstract

HERCULES: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CORE -- SUMMARY
The HERCULES Community Engagement Core (CEC) plays a critical role in the Center mission of learning
how the exposome affects health and community well-being and using that knowledge to improve human
health by sustaining and enriching relationships with community partners, further defining and applying the
exposome concept to address community concerns. The CEC works with communities in the Atlanta metro
area, a diverse region facing myriad environmental injustices. Due to this complex regional exposome,
Atlanta’s environmental health (EH) community has coalesced around HERCULES and the exposome theme,
forming an active and engaged Stakeholder Advisory Board (SAB) representing both those who are impacted
and those who provide resources and oversight, including neighborhoods, non-profits, universities, and
government agencies. Our SAB oversees, guides, and develops CEC activities and budgets. Together, we
have had great success in achieving our previous goals of disseminating research findings, developing models
of engagement that enhance community capacity to address local EH concerns, and strengthening capacity for
community-engaged research among both community partners and EH scientists, leading to real impact,
including a Superfund Remediation and changes to a city’s zoning ordinances. Building on those
achievements, we used an iterative process of engaging, building trust with, and learning from our SAB,
community, and Center members, to develop our current Aims and activities. The CEC will facilitate multi-
directional dialogue and collaboration around EH and justice issues within the Atlanta community (Aim 1),
guide and support HERCULES members and students in community engagement and collaborative efforts that
are mutually beneficial, culturally responsible, & share power (Aim 2), and enhance community capacity to
address local EH concerns and partner in collaborative shared-power efforts (Aim 3). We will continue to
achieve multi-directional dialogue and collaboration by engaging our SAB to guide and inform our activities,
which include a partnership with the HERCULES Pilot Project Program to guide and support Center members
and students in community-engaged pilot projects as well as proposing CEC-led Translational Pilot
Projects that further advance HERCULES research across the Translational Research Framework. We will
offer two model community engagement programs that establish multi-directional dialogue, facilitate
engagement and collaboration, and enhance community capacity: 1) the four-phase Exposome Roadshow and
Community Grant Program supports a community to organize, plan, take, and sustain action around a priority
EH issue, and 2) our Data Science Workshops, a partnership with Emory’s Environmental Law Clinic and the
Environmental Health Data Sciences Core and Integrated Health Science Facility Core, addresses
community data needs, training residents to identify, collect, and use da...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10668231
- **Project number:** 5P30ES019776-11
- **Recipient organization:** EMORY UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Melanie Alice PEARSON
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $269,407
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2013-05-21 → 2027-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10668231

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10668231, HERCULES: Exposome Research Center (5P30ES019776-11). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10668231. Licensed CC0.

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