# Chicago UP on the Environmental Health Sciences

> **NIH ES R25** · UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO · 2026 · $135,000

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Chicago’s community areas demonstrate wide variation in environmental quality, disease risk, and outcomes, indicating a critical need for environmental health research across the city. In 2017, the “ChicAgo Center for Health and EnvironmenT (CACHET)” was established at UChicago – the first NIEHS P30 Environmental Health Core Center in the Chicago area. As the CACHET membership and projects have grown, so have prospective training opportunities. As a key CACHET goal is to improve environmental health-related outcomes for residents of Chicago and beyond, it offers the ideal context for encouraging undergraduates to pursue careers in environmental health. Multidisciplinary environmental health research training is offered by clinician, laboratory, and population scientists to understand, evaluate, and ultimately improve environmental health-related outcomes. Research areas of emphasis include air, water, and soil, biomarkers of exposure and effect, and molecular and cellular processes of toxicity. CACHET offers a robust structure to support training for undergraduates, with extensive research and mentoring opportunities by CACHET investigators and ongoing research opportunities. Since 2021, we have leveraged CACHET, its EHS faculty pool, and its research portfolio to support educational activities that encourage students to pursue further studies or careers in EHS research through the Chicago UP on the Environmental Health Sciences Program (UP on EHS). To accomplish this goal, we: 1) provide 2-year mentored research experiences and career/skill development to undergraduate students (rising juniors from institutions across Chicago) to inspire and prepare them for further study in the environmental health sciences; 2) provide opportunities for dissemination in Chicago communities as well as in academic publications or presentations; and 3) create a strong and long-lasting network of support for students throughout their career journeys. For each student, we asse

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11261184
- **Project number:** 5R25ES031873-07
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Habibul  Ahsan; Briseis A Aschebrook-Kilfoy
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ES
- **Fiscal year:** 2026
- **Award amount:** $135,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-06-01T00:00:00 → 2030-03-31T00:00:00

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11261184

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11261184, Chicago UP on the Environmental Health Sciences (5R25ES031873-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-20 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11261184. Licensed CC0.

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