# Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center

> **NIH NIH P30** · UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA · 2024 · $1,535,000

## Abstract

The Strategic Vision of the Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center (SWEHSC) is to facilitate and
implement innovative research and community engagement aimed at understanding the mechanisms underlying
environmental health (EHS) risks and disease among people living in arid environments undergoing climate
change. Importantly, the SWEHSC strategic vision supports our long-term goal of uniting interdisciplinary
scientists to study environmental effects on the health and well-being of unique populations in the Southwest
US, including Native American, Latinx, and rural communities. Because the unique conditions of the arid desert
Southwest environment mirror those of many other global desert climates, the interdisciplinary research
conducted by the SWEHSC could also improve the lives of the 2.1 billion people globally who live in arid lands.
As climate change increases the burden on human health through water and respiratory exposures due to
drought, wildfires, and decreasing water supply, the arid Southwest serves as the proverbial `canary in the coal
mine' for the resulting health effects. Specifically, research within the SWEHSC focuses on 1) routes of exposure
in arid environments, including exposure to groundwater contaminants and inhalation, 2) the adverse health
outcomes following inhalation of air pollutants, and 3) the molecular pathways of adaptive responses to
environmental exposures such as arsenic and ultraviolet light. If climate change is not reversed, the EHS factors
prevalent in the desert Southwest will forecast the future concerns of much of the rest of the US. Accordingly,
our mission impacts not only the health and well-being of the arid Southwest populations, but also the billions of
people across the planet affected by climate change.
The SWEHSC will continue to improve the health of people in arid lands by developing rational approaches to
identifying and mitigating hazardous environmental exposures. The geographic location of the SWEHSC, with
its large Latinx, Native American, and rural communities, provides unique research opportunities to identify and
address basic environmental health hazards that impact these populations. Moreover, strengthening ties
between SWEHSC faculty and academic and governmental agencies in Mexico enables impactful binational
EHS initiatives, with the tangible ability to improve public health along the US-Mexico border and for broad
translation to global stakeholders.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10850986
- **Project number:** 5P30ES006694-27
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
- **Principal Investigator:** Nathan J Cherrington
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $1,535,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1997-04-01 → 2028-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10850986

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10850986, Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center (5P30ES006694-27). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10850986. Licensed CC0.

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