BOSTON, MA – Our Center has partnered with Biogen to award pilot project funding for a proposal that will investigate whether and how exposure to specific greenspaces may mitigate health inequities in the relationships between air pollution, extreme temperature events, and neurodegenerative diseases.
“By 2050, Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) may impact 13 million aging Americans,” principal investigator Scott Delaney, ScD, JD, MPH, a research associate at the Chan School currently working with Dr. Antonella Zanobetti, said in his proposal.
“Climate-related exposures—including air pollution, extreme heat, and volatile temperatures—may exacerbate ADRD and PD symptoms, and they disproportionately impact socially marginalized Americans. Greenspace—or the exposure to outdoor greenery, vegetation, or park land—may reduce the impact of these exposures, but most prior research has been limited because commonly used greenspace measures do not capture specific, policy-relevant neuroprotective features of outdoor greenspace,” according to the proposal.
The project aims to link novel greenspace measures derived from Google Street View data, air pollution data (PM2.5, NO2, O3), and meteorological data (temperature, humidity) to Medicare claims data (100% of fee-for-service Part A claims from 2007-2018). Preliminary results will support an NIH R01 submission, and the resulting dataset will also enable studies of other neurological diseases.
“We’re excited to continue our work with Biogen to fund exciting new research into climate-related factors and neurological health,” said Dr. Marc Weisskopf, director of the Harvard Chan-NIEHS Center for Environmental Health. “Health effects of climate change—and research into how to possibly mitigate adverse effects of climate change—is one of the most pressing issues we face in society today. Our NIEHS P30 Center aims to tackle such environmental health challenges head on and these are efforts to do that.”
“The research that Harvard Chan-NIEHS Center for Environmental Health is conducting will help us to gain further insight into the relationship between environmental factors and various health conditions, including the impact on diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s,” said Johanna Jobin, Biogen’s Global Head of Biogen’s Corporate Reputation and Responsibility. “We are proud to support research that could show – in a data-driven way – the actions we can take to improve public health benefits, particularly for vulnerable communities. This type of work remains true to Biogen’s purpose and how we are serving humanity through science while advancing a healthier, more sustainable and equitable world.”
The Harvard Chan-NIEHS Center for Environmental Health solicits pilot project applications twice per year – once in the spring and once in the fall. Several grants of up to $30,000 each are offered to projects that encourage innovation and creativity in environmental health science research, to develop new collaborations across disciplines and institutions, and to attract new investigators to environmental health science research. Funds are typically used for feasibility studies and to produce preliminary data to compete for independent funding. For more information about the Center’s Pilot Projects Program, click here.
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