# Biostatistics for Research in Environmental Health

> **NIH NIH T32** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2020 · $1,190,228

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
This multidisciplinary five-year program provides integrated training in Environmental
Biostatistics, Environmental Epidemiology, and Environmental Health Science, with the goal of
preparing scientists to address emerging challenges in modern environmental health research.
By constructing a training program that involves collaboration across three critical scientific
areas, we have a unique opportunity to advance environmental health in ways that could not be
achieved if the training were conducted via three separate programs. Funding is requested for
23 predoctoral (9 BIOS, 7 EPID, 7 ENVR) and 5 postdoctoral trainees (1 BIOS, 2 EPID, 2
ENVR).
Assessment of exposure-disease relationships requires understanding connections between
exposure, early biological effects, host-factors, and potential interactions with the environment.
Thus current environmental health research, whether involving experiments with laboratory
animals or observational studies of human populations, is becoming increasingly complex.
Across the lifespan, individuals are exposed to multiple contaminants at varying windows of
development. These windows may differ in their sensitivities to toxic insults, potentially resulting
in different health outcomes. Understanding the relationship between environmental toxicants
and disease susceptibility therefore requires sophistication in the measurement of biological
markers of exposure and disease processes. New technologies that allow investigators to
obtain a more comprehensive estimate of exposure (the exposome), in combination with `omics-
scale biological markers (genomes, epigenomes, microbiomes, proteomes and metabolomes)
present both opportunities and challenges to the next generation of environmental science
researchers. The ability to incorporate these data into a sophisticated systems biological
framework is essential and requires cross-disciplinary training in exposure science,
epidemiology, and biostatistics. A program that prepares and trains students to integrate these
next-generation tools in the “big data” era is essential to environmental health science research.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9977195
- **Project number:** 5T32ES007018-44
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** Stephanie Engel
- **Activity code:** T32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $1,190,228
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1977-07-01 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9977195

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9977195, Biostatistics for Research in Environmental Health (5T32ES007018-44). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9977195. Licensed CC0.

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