FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The National Institute
of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) of the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) recently awarded Dr. Sacoby Wilson in the Institute for Families in
Society a special four-year, $1.2 million R21 grant for his research project
titled, "Use of a
Community-University Partnership to Eliminate Environmental Stressors.”
The project will use a
community/university partnership between the Low-Country Alliance for Model
Communities (LAMC) and the University of South Carolina (USC), the
community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework, and collaborative
problem solving model (CPSM) principles to address environmental injustice,
public health, and revitalization issues in North Charleston, SC. Ultimately,
the research will provide evidence on the cumulative impact that multiple
sources of air, water, and soil pollution have on disadvantaged neighborhoods
in North Charleston. The research team will use participatory education,
outreach, and training to educate residents about their local environmental
health risks and ways that they can reduce their exposure and prevent pollution
in their local communities.
Dr. Wilson states, "This grant is a great opportunity for the
partnership between LAMC and the University of South Carolina to study and
address environmental health issues in North Charleston, SC . I believe that LAMC is a community-based
environmental justice organization that is truly committed to holistically
address environmental health issues that burden the communities that it
serves. I am very excited and proud to
be making a positive contribution to this partnership. LAMC has done a great
job in working with partners such as USC and the South Carolina Department of
Health and Environmental Control for several years in bringing attention to
environmental risks in their communities and I believe through this grant, LAMC’s efforts will have
a significant impact on positive social and environmental change.”
Dr. Wilson is a research assistant professor with the Institute for
Families in Society; he previously was a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society
Scholar at the University of Michigan. Dr. Wilson’s research focuses on
environmental justice, environmental health, environmental health disparities,
built environment, community-driven research, and spatiotemporal exposure
assessment. Dr. Wilson received his PhD
and MS degree in environmental health from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. He is a two-time EPA STAR
fellow, Senior Fellow in the Environmental Leadership Program, and Chair-Elect
of the Environment Section of the American Public Health Association.
Co-Investigators on the project include Drs. Erik Svendsen and Hongemei Zhang
in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Dr. Edith Williams with
the Institute for Partnerships to Eliminate Health Disparities, Dr. Marjorie
Aelion with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Mr. Herbert
Fraser-Rahim with LAMC.
This R21 is part of a new umbrella program at the NIEHS called
"Partnerships for Public Health,” which will support a variety of research, outreach,
and educational activities to prevent, reduce, or eliminate
environmental/occupational exposures that may lead to adverse health outcomes
in communities. The Institute for Families in Society uses
interdisciplinary research and leadership as a platform to advance the science
and practice of helping families thrive at community, state, regional,
national, and international levels.