The Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University, in partnership with Emory School of Medicine and Morehouse School of Medicine, recently announced the inaugural cohort of Pediatric and Reproductive Environmental Health Scholars-Southeastern Environmental Exposures and Disparities (PREHS-SEED) scholars. The PREHS-SEED program is a mentored K12 career development program that provides junior clinical faculty with comprehensive training in pediatric and environmental health research.
Liliana Aguayo, PhD, MPH, assistant professor in Emory's Rollins School of Public Health, and Carmen Dickinson-Copeland, assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry, and Immunology at Morehouse School of Medicine, were selected as the program's first scholars. With this program, Aguayo and Dickinson-Copeland will collaborate with local community partners by leveraging the resources and expertise within the Southeast Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (SE PEHSU). 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 US.
Aguayo's research is focused on investigating the origins of disparities in cardiovascular disease (CV) to understand the underlying mechanisms through which protective and resilience-promoting factors can limit the negative influence of the social determinants of health.
Dickinson-Copeland's research centers around identifying and formalizing the risks of low-level lead exposure metro in Atlanta children.
"Our inaugural PREHS-SEED scholars were selected for their dedication to environmental health research that positively impacts at-risk women and children in our metro Atlanta community," said Lisa Thompson, PREHS-SEED program director. "We look forward to seeing how their work addresses barriers in environmental health research."
Both research programs aim to build dynamic and innovative academic and community partnerships to reduce the burden of environmental health disparities, particularly among Black, Latin X, and immigrant/refugee women and children.
The application for the next cycle of PREHS-SEED scholars will open this Fall. Application information can be found here.
About the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
