Environmental Exposures

Research has shown that people who live in poorer neighborhoods may have shorter lifespans. Urban areas of low socioeconomic status, for example, have more pollution and stressful environments, which are associated with an increased risk of death and therefore a shorter lifespan. But few studies explain the biological process that leads to this increased risk. A study funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and NIMHD found a potential new way to assess how neighborhood-level exposures affect health and mortality risk.

Each year, the NIH Office of Intramural Training and Education (OITE) hosts a poster day for recent college graduates across the different NIH Institutes to present their research. This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, OITE held the event virtually over 3 days, rather than hosting the event in person on the NIH campus. A total of 875 researchers-in-training shared a variety of studies conducted under the supervision of NIH faculty.