Gulf Coast Center for Precision Environmental Health

The Texas Medical Center (TMC), encompassing the top research-intensive institutions in the Gulf Coast Region, has emerged as an Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) research powerhouse, driven by the establishment in 2019 of the Gulf Coast Center for Precision Environmental Health (GC-CPEH). The Strategic Vision for the Center is to catalyze translational EHS research within research-intensive institutions of the TMC to advance our understanding of individual- and place-based environmental determinants of human health and disease. Home institutions for this multi-institutional Center are Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and the University of Texas (UT). As a new P30 EHS Core Center (EHS-CC), the GC-CPEH now ranks #1 in Texas and #12 nationally in NIEHS grant support. Since its inception, Center members have worked together to garner new T32 Training in Precision Environmental Health Sciences (TPEHS) and successfully competed for two large multi-institutional EHS programs: a P42 Superfund Center and a P50 Center. Coming into our fifth year and this competitive renewal, the GC-CPEH has an outstanding cadre of 44 Full members, 320 publications citing the Center, and an NIEHS research funding base of >$47 million. GC-CPEH member research coalesces into three Research Thematic Focus Areas: Genome and Epigenome Environment Interactions (GE2), Mechanisms and Interventions in Human Environmental Disease (MIHED), and new for this renewal, Current and Emergent Environmental Threats (CEET) to human health. CEET retains Disaster Research Response (DR2) activities and has been expanded to include Veterans Environmental Health and Health Effects of Extreme Weather Events. The Goals for the GC-CPEH renewal are: 1) Accelerate translational EHS research across disciplines and institutions of the TMC. This Goal advances the Center’s Translational Vision to drive precision environmental health research that will prevent disease and improve human health; 2) Advance careers of the next generation of EHS researchers and promote a broad range of perspectives to inform Center activities. This Goal is supported by an effective Career Development Program and collaboration across Center Cores and Programs; 3) Build research capacity by providing inter-institutional access to resources and technologies that accelerate research and translation via the Pilot Project Program, seamless access to Next-gen technologies via the PIPELINE Facility Core and enabling translational research through the Translational Research Support Core (TRSC). Utilization of these Cores is facilitated by Navigators and the Matching Funds Core Utilization Program; 4) Support and strengthen community engagement across the Gulf Coast region by fostering meaningful, multi-directional communication between researchers and local communities. Through the experienced and vibrant Community Engagement Core (CEC), GC-CPEH promotes collaboration that enriches research with community knowledge and builds shared understanding around environmental health issues affecting the greater Houston area and the Gulf Coast Region.