Lung Health and the Environment Training Program

Pulmonary morbidity and mortality are increasingly impacted by the environment. The harms disproportionately affect children, older people, the socioeconomically disadvantaged, and people with underlying lung disease. Although we have known this for some time, efforts to understand the pulmonary responses and injuries have been woefully inadequate. There are multiple explanations for why we have not made more progress, but one contributor is that we have not been training the next generation to tackle the consequences of the environment on lung health. Thus, our goal is to train students and postdoctoral fellows for cutting edge research in the effects of the environment on pulmonary health. We have outstanding leadership with complementary and synergistic skills: Dr. David Stoltz in the College of Medicine in basic and translational lung biology, and Dr. Peter Thorne in the College of Public Health in pulmonary toxicology and environmental epidemiology. We have creative and innovative mentors in several areas of emphasis: air pollution; allergens, airway biology, and environmental challenges; extreme weather/disasters; and lung infections. In addition to accepting post-doctoral fellows, we take a forward-looking approach by accepting predoctoral graduate students and offering a summer program for medical students. We strive to recruit, train, and retain a group of trainees who are prepared to tackle the effects of the environment on lung health. Our existing expertise, programs and interests position us exceedingly well for this direction, and our trainees will benefit from multidisciplinary research teams and programs including the Environmental Health Sciences Research Center, Iowa Superfund Research Program, Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, and the Center for Global & Regional Environmental Research. Our program is focused on comprehensive training in research to understand and mitigate the impact of the environment on lung health via multiple modalities that include active mentored research, didactic courses, activities that enhance writing and presentation skills, community engagement, and endeavors that facilitate career development. We encourage collaboration, networking, and creative partnerships with multiple scientists, healthcare providers, and community members to advance solutions to the pulmonary harms of the environment. The program also benefits from the perspective and advice of an External Advisory Committee composed of world leaders in the health risks of the environment and lung biology.