1. Center for Urban Responses to Environmental Stressors
NIEHS Environmental Health Science Core Center (P30 ES020957)
Led by Melissa Runge-Morris, MD and Christine Cole Johnson, PhD, MPH, HFHS
Impacts from Living and Working in an Urban Industrialized Environment (Detroit)
Exposure to chemical and non-chemical “stressors”
Who is most vulnerable? Age, socioeconomic status, healthcare access, refugees, high-risk occupations
Life windows of heightened susceptibility: when in life are you at the most risk?
Goal: Disease prevention through community awareness and public policy change

2. Fostering Bi-Directional Communication
Rejecting the old
Research led by institutions/scientists
“Traditional” methods of dissemination: journal articles, posters, seminars
Community at-large engaged minimally or not at all
Embracing a new framework of participation
Community stakeholders, impacted populations involved
Dissemination varies by audience
Engagement can initiate interventions and policy change

3. Fostering Bi-Directional Communication
Community Advisory Board
Funding research rooted in solving local problems
“Snowballing” list of concerns and community feedback through public forums

4. Community Advisory Board

5. Collaborative Process
Our Process Starts with an EH Topic Defined by Detroiters
Topic
Science
Collaboration
Dissemination
Input from CAB and Detroit residents via evaluation inform topics
Scientists present to CAB on topic of concern
Scientists, CEC, and CAB collaborate and plan to determine information and resource needs for events
Event held in community, video recorded, edited, disseminated in smaller venues, and supporting printed materials are created together

6. Fostering Bi-Directional Communication
New Ideas in Asthma Prevention
Getting the Lead Out: Detroit Perspectives
Healthy Homes: What You Need To Know
Digging In for Good Health: Gardening in Detroit
Mental Health & Neighborhood Stressors
Neighborhood Air Quality
Understanding Urban Water Systems
Graying Green: Aging and Climate Change
Good Food = Good Health