Pediatric and Reproductive Environmental Health Scholars (PREHS) Southeastern Environmental Exposures and Disparities (SEED) Program -- K12
Overview
A five-year, multimillion-dollar grant awarded December 2021 that allows Emory University and Morehouse School of Medicine to develop a research training program for clinical faculty to evaluate environmental health exposures and disparities to improve health equity.
The Pediatric and Reproductive Environmental Health Scholars-Southeastern Environmental Exposures and Disparities (PREHS-SEED) mentored K12 career development program will provide junior clinical faculty from Emory School of Nursing and School of Medicine and Morehouse School of Medicine with comprehensive training in pediatric and reproductive environmental health research. Faculty scholars will collaborate with local community partners and the Region 4 PEHSU — a region burdened by systemic racism and increasing climate change-related environmental threats that intensify health disparities. Faculty scholars will conduct research to assess environmental health exposures and disparities to improve health equity and safeguard the health of at-risk women and children in the Southeastern United States.
The PREHS-SEED Program builds capacity for dynamic and innovative academic and community partnerships:
Documenting the burden of environmental health disparities, particularly among Black, Latinx and immigrant/refugee women and children
Engaging in community-based participatory research that partners with local community organizations
Addressing solutions to adapt and mitigate to high heat and other weather events related to climate change which disproportionately affects low-income communities
Develop a research training program that produces leaders in pediatric and reproductive environmental health disparities research
Enhance existing infrastructure for individualized didactic training in research methodology as they relate to pediatric and reproductive environmental health
Identify and recruit a diverse cohort of promising scholars dedicated to careers in pediatric and reproductive environmental health research from Emory and MSM
Expand existing multidisciplinary career development programs with mentorship from accomplished environmental health scientists
Scholarship Program
Goals
Recruit a diverse pool of junior faculty with a doctorate (MD, PhD, MD/PhD, PharmD, or equivalent) at the rank of Instructor or Assistant Professor at Emory, Morehouse School of Medicine.
Focus on the integration of environmental health research into clinical research
Create a space for a growing pool of early-stage investigators who are interested in pediatric and women’s reproductive health, foci often under-prioritized in career development funding mechanisms and other programs.
Support and facilitate career development of assistant-level clinician faculty to transition to independent research careers through advanced support mechanisms, e.g., NIH-funded K08 and K23 grant awards.
PREHS Scholars
Liliana Aguayo, PhD, MPH Assistant Professor -Clinical Research Track Hubert Department of Global Health Emory Global Diabetes Research Center Rollins School of Public Health
Dr. Aguayo investigates the childhood origins of disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD). She uses her transdisciplinary training to focus on better understanding the underlying mechanisms through which protective and resilience-promoting factors can limit the negative influence of the social determinants of health, from the origins of life. She believes research on resilience in early life holds promise to guide clinical and policy strategies to reduce CVD disparities across the lifespan. To this end, she applies a life-course approach and an intersectionality framework to identify protective factors that could limit the intergenerational transmission of CVD as a strategy to reduce disparities in obesity and CVD.
Carmen Dickinson-Copeland, PhD, MSCR Assistant Professor Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Immunology Morehouse School of Medicine
Dr. Carmen Dickinson-Copeland is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry, and Immunology at Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM). She received her dual master’s in Clinical Research and Ph.D. in Biomedical Research from MSM in 2016. Carmen’s lab aims to improve health outcomes in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities through Multidisciplinary Translational Team Science. Since taking her faculty position in 2018, she has been awarded a GA CTSA KL2 mentored research scholar grant, an NIH Loan Repayment Program award (NIEHS), and the MSM RCMI U54 Pilot Award (NIMHD). These early career development opportunities have been foundational to her goal of research independence.
Dr. Dickinson-Copeland’s PREHS K12 research will focus on the “Application of a Machine Learning platform to identify Georgia Children at Risk for Low-Level Lead Exposure.” This body of work is a translation of her previous observational studies. It aims to formalize the risks that account for the distribution of sub-clinical lead exposures in children within the metro Atlanta area.
Carmen’s long-term goal is to develop a career that bridges the gap between biomedical science and health policy research.
Belise Livingston-Burns, MD, MPH Assistant Professor Department of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine Medical Director of the Primary Care Clinic at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Hughes Spalding Hospital
As a National Health Service Corps Scholar, Dr. Belise Livingston-Burns spent her early career at a large federally qualified health center in Albany, GA. It was there that she learned the power of collaborative partnerships between healthcare systems and community stakeholders. Recognizing the importance of addressing the social determinants of health in primary care, her research studies the impact of environmental factors on pediatric health and well-being. Dr. LivingstonBurns’ PREHS K12 research will focus on the design and implementation of effective public health strategies to improve health disparities. Her project, “Just Water: Water Trust and Consumption Patterns for Child Health,” evaluates how drinking water preferences affect behaviors linked to pediatric health outcomes.
Nasim Katebi, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Informatics, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics and Global Health at Emory University
Dr. Nasim Katebi’s research focus is developing AI, modeling and engineering methods to quantify fetalmaternal physiology and improving health monitoring in pregnancy and postpartum for underrepresented populations. Dr. Katebi is also a research scientist in the center for indigenous health studies at Wuqu' Kawoq | Maya Health Alliance. Her work focuses on developing edge computing and machine learning models to accurately detect and predict cardiovascular complications in pregnancy. Dr. Katebi devotes her time to investigating health disparities in maternal health and identifying individual, healthcare, and environmental factors that contribute to pregnancy-related complications. This includes delayed and fragmented care, social determinants of health, and race related health disparities.
Abby Mutic, Ph.D., M.S.N., C.N.M. Assistant Professor, Tenure Track
Dr. Abby D. Mutic is an Assistant Tenure Track Professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University. She directs the Region 4 Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit and is a practicing Certified Nurse Midwife. Her research focuses on perinatal and pediatric environmental exposures that contribute to respiratory health outcomes and school absenteeism. It emphasizes listening to stakeholders, translating research in culturally appropriate ways, and implementing sustainable strategies for change. She oversees multiple community outreach projects in the Southeast and consults with exposed communities and healthcare providers experiencing large and small environmental hazards.
Ashley Ruiz, PhD, RN Assistant Professor
Ashley Ruiz is an Assistant Professor at Emory University in the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and a clinician with a specialization as a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner. She uses methods and methodologies that center women’s voices in research to support advances towards health equity. Throughout her early career, Dr. Ruiz has examined Black and Indigenous women's experiences of secondary victimization (or re-traumatization) following sexual assault in healthcare in the Upper Midwest and Southwest. As a PREHS-SEED scholar, Dr. Ruiz will explore the impact of climate change on women’s experiences of sexual gender-based violence following displacement from heat and water-related natural disasters. She is committed to bridging the gap between environmental health sciences and gender-based violence.
Mattie F. Wolf, MD, MS Assistant Professor Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Emory University School of Medicine & Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Dr. Mattie F. Wolf is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine & Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. She received her medical degree from Emory University School of Medicine, completed her pediatric residency training at Duke University, and completed her neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship at Emory University School of Medicine & Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Her research bridges population health and health services research to understand how social determinants of health and healthcare access and quality contribute to infant mortality burden. As a NIH T32-funded research scholar, she received a Master of Science in Clinical Research degree at Emory’s Laney Graduate School where her research examined how maternal residential socioeconomic context and maternal sociodemographic factors influence infant mortality. She is also the Associate Director of Data Science for the Emory Collaborating Center for Maternal Infant Health where she collaborates with the Georgia Department of Public Health on research initiatives and is also the founding member and lead of the Shared Health Initiatives for Neonatal Equity group that bridges neonatal health equity efforts of metro Atlanta Neonatal Intensive Care Units. Dr. Wolf’s PREHS K12 research will focus on “Maternal Access to Care and Infant Mortality in Georgia” to determine how maternal access to healthcare influences infant mortality, both overall and stratified by timing and cause. This proposal will support her long-term goal to become one of the few trained neonatologists bridging the gap between access to care for the mother-infant dyad and infant mortality.
Zahra A. Barandouzi PhD, MSN, RN
Zahra A. Barandouzi, PhD, MSN, RN, has been awarded the PREHS-SEED K12 award. This prestigious grant will support Dr. Barandouzi's innovative research project, "Bio-social Mechanisms Underlying Psychoneurological Symptoms in Women with Gynecologic Cancer."
The goal of this study is to evaluate the influence of socio-behavioral factors on the gut microbiome and psychoneurological symptoms. The findings from this study have the potential to inform future interventions such as probiotics to rebalance the gut microbiome and reduce symptom burden in gynecologic cancer populations.
Dr. Zahra A. Barandouzi is an Assistant Professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University and a member of the Winship Cancer Institute. Her research interests focus on patient-reported outcomes, cancer symptom science and management, and omics science. Dr. Barandouzi is currently investigating how the interaction of socio-behavioral factors with the gut-brain axis contributes to developing and maintaining psychoneurological symptoms in cancer survivors. The results of her work will provide an essential foundation for designing precise interventions to relieve symptoms in the cancer population. Dr. Barandouzi's mission as a cancer researcher is to uncover novel insights to reduce symptom burden in cancer population.
^ Emory University, Morehouse University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Georgia); Emory University’s Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH).
Funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (K12ES033593)
Linda A. McCauley, PhD, RN, FAAN, FRCN, began her appointment as Dean of Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing (NHWSN) in 2009. She has since developed and executed a comprehensive strategic plan to position NHWSN at the forefront of nursing research, education, and policy. This plan has been successful, in large part, because it emphasizes the potential of nurses and nursing students as leaders in healthcare innovation. Under Dean McCauley’s leadership, the school has risen from its No. 26 ranking in 2011 to its current position as No. 1 in US News and World Report’s “Best Graduate Nursing Schools” guide. The school also holds the No. 1 undergraduate US News and World Report ranking.
Dean McCauley’s own research—for which she has been consistently funded for over two decades—lies at the intersection of nursing and environmental and occupational health sciences. Her longstanding partnership with the Farmworkers Association of Florida involves collaborating with farmworkers to study the health impacts of heat stress (such as kidney disease) in agricultural settings. Today, she and her team are partnering with communities, experts across disciplines, and organizations across sectors to implement and share the Center’s findings. The National Institute of Environmental Health Science (NIEHS), awarded $4 million in 2022 to fund the new phase of this work in a grant titled, the Center for Children’s Health Assessment, Research Translation, and Combating Environmental Risk (CHARTER).
