# ChicAgo Center for Health and EnvironmenT (CACHET)

> **NIH NIH P30** · UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO · 2020 · $946,911

## Abstract

1. OVERALL ABSTRACT
This is a new submission to establish the “ChicAgo Center for Health and EnvironmenT (CACHET)” – the first
NIH P30 Environmental Health Sciences Core Center in the Chicago area and a partnership between the
University of Chicago (UofC) – a leading private university in the nation and the University of Illinois at Chicago
(UIC) – the leading public university in Illinois. CACHET will be comprised of 69 members from 18
Departments across 7 colleges/institutes at the two complementary partner Universities. CACHET will promote
synergistic, multidisciplinary environmental health research between the clinician, laboratory and population
scientists to evaluate, delineate and ultimately reduce environmental health related disparities among residents
of Chicago and beyond. The need for a dedicated environmental health research center in Chicago is
highlighted by a disproportionate racial/ethnic health imbalance observed for multiple diseases and outcomes.
In this context, the CACHET mission is to “elucidate the biological, social and economic underpinnings
between relevant urban environmental exposures and human disease and translate the findings to
reduce health inequities within our communities.” As such, our overarching theme is “Mitigating
Disparities in Environmental Health.” To accomplish our mission, CACHET will organize five
multidisciplinary focus groups: Air, Water & Soil Pollution- to address diseases related to poor air, soil and/or
water quality; Biomarkers of Exposure, Susceptibility and Risk- to elucidate how environmental exposures
confer risk for disease due to individual genetic and epigenetic differences; Environmental Carcinogenesis- to
elucidate specific mechanisms of environmental effectors that promote cancer; Endocrine and Metabolic
Diseases- to determine how environmental exposures act at windows of susceptibility to drive disequilibrium in
endocrine and metabolic homeostasis; and Economic and Social Determinants of Environmental Effects and
Policy- such that the economic impacts and social factors are considered in assessing exposure mitigation and
informing policy. This structure will permit the development of integrated research themes that cut across
focus groups, with a particular emphasis on urban issues and racial/ethnic health imbalances. CACHET
multidisciplinary research will be supported through four facility cores that will leverage the expertise and
facilities from the two institutions. This includes the required Community Outreach and Engagement Core
(COEC) and Integrated Health Sciences Facility Core (IHSFC) combined with the Biomarkers Core (BC) and
the Statistics & Modeling Facility Core (SMFC) created in response to the research needs of CACHET
investigators. CACHET will build capacity in EHS by funding pilot projects and promoting career development
in environmental research. Overall, research orchestrated by CACHET will inform the decisions of policy
makers and reduce health disparities in Ch...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9922303
- **Project number:** 5P30ES027792-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Habibul Ahsan
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $946,911
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-30 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9922303

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9922303, ChicAgo Center for Health and EnvironmenT (CACHET) (5P30ES027792-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9922303. Licensed CC0.

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