Environmental Justice and Health Research

EPA is working for environmental justice—ensuring that all people benefit from the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws and policies. Agency researchers supply decision-support tools to advance that effort.

Together, the agency and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are establishing health disparities research centers. They recently funded 10 grant awards for research initiatives and activities within the Centers of Excellence program.

The centers are located across the country and support research on topics such as:
  • environmental and neighborhood effects on cardiovascular risk,
  • effects of racial segregation on environmental factors that impact health, and
  • solutions to environment issues contributing to health disparities faced by Native Americans and Hispanic communities.

A principal research objective is to generate innovative approaches to reduce environmentally-driven health disparities, improving access to healthy environments for vulnerable populations.

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