Katherine JohnsonThe University of Kentucky Center for Appalachian Research in Environmental Sciences (UK-CARES)will continue its work to study major environmental health impacts on Kentuckians with a renewed award from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The grant totaling $7.4 million will continue to fund UK-CARES over the next five years. The center was established in August 2017, with an initial $7.4 million NIEHS grant, making it an Environmental Health Sciences Core Center to enhance research across all spectrums — basic, clinical, epidemiological and translational.
UK-CARES is focused on studying environmental health impacts to air and water quality that are implicated in environmentally-induced disease, as well as emerging threats such as flooding and exposure to new contaminants.
“Over these last five years, our Commonwealth has been through one major event after another, from the COVID-19 pandemic to historic flooding and devastating tornadoes. The members of UK-CARES along with our community partners have done critical research to understand and address environmental health impacts,” said Ellen J. Hahn, Ph.D., a registered nurse, professor in the UK Colleges of Nursing and Public Health, and director of UK-CARES. “We will continue to learn with and from the community to tackle the environmental challenges facing the state and the health of its people, especially throughout Appalachia.”
