# Equity and Climate Opportunities for Health (ECO-Health) Center

> **NIH NIH P20** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2024 · $4,000,468

## Abstract

ABSTRACT (OVERALL)
Climate change is an unprecedented threat intensifying health risks and disparities. Social and structural factors
like material need insecurities and the built environment converge with climate change to amplify health harms
for disproportionately impacted groups, and these factors can be targeted to improve communities’ resilience to
climate-sensitive exposures. California is an ideal test bed for pioneering climate-health solutions, as a global
leader in climate action with extensive experience on the frontlines of climate change and with diverse climate-
affected communities. The proposed Equity and Climate Opportunities for Health (ECO-Health) Center at the
University of California will use a precision climate and health approach to build a pipeline of epidemiological
and community-engaged research characterizing how modifiable social and structural factors shape key health
outcomes and disparities across the lifespan in the context of climate-sensitive exposures. The Center will
channel this evidence into equitable climate resilience solutions co-developed and implemented with
disproportionately impacted communities. To achieve these goals, the ECO-Health Center will undertake three
specific aims. Aim 1 will be to develop and sustain diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA)-centered
researcher training and career development programs, using a foundation of adaptive expertise, to foster the
development of early-career, under-represented, and community-based researchers who can generate
actionable climate-health knowledge. This will include mentorship, training in state-of-the-art methods, including
machine learning, implementation science, and community-engaged research, and evidence-to-policy
translation to support transdisciplinary projects. In Aim 2, through a Research Project, data dashboard, and pilot
projects, the ECO-Health Center will generate localized evidence and action-oriented research strategies to
address climate and health justice. Researchers will employ cutting-edge methods to uncover multi-dimensional
climate-health vulnerabilities in the contexts of extreme heat and wildfire smoke as well as their co-occurrence,
and model hypothetical resilience interventions at the local level. Findings will inform targeted, co-designed
strategies to alleviate disparities through modifications of the built environment and reduced material need
insecurities. Fundamental to this work will be the Center’s commitment to developing and maintaining strong,
collaborative academic-community research partnerships that are rooted in the principles of equity and justice
and embrace the goal of achieving tangible, equitable health benefits for all. In Aim 3, a Community Engagement
Core will follow principles of environmental justice to facilitate community perspectives, disseminate actionable
findings, and build capacity. Ultimately, the ECO-Health Center will pioneer a framework for health equity
solutions generaliz...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10983044
- **Project number:** 1P20MD019994-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Tarik Benmarhnia
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $4,000,468
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-21 → 2027-09-20

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10983044

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10983044, Equity and Climate Opportunities for Health (ECO-Health) Center (1P20MD019994-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10983044. Licensed CC0.

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