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The Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center (SWEHSC) has been funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences since 1994, and is so named because it reflects the regional location of the center and underscores the focus on environmental health sciences issues pertinent to the southwestern United States. The geographic location of the SWEHSC and the environmental health challenges associated with the arid desert environment, together with its rich Hispanic and Native American cultural heritage, provides unique opportunities for basic environmental health sciences research to improve the health of these communities. Investigators of the SWEHSC are conducting research to determine how environmental factors are related to various diseases. New and Highlights below. |
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| SWEHSC research themes in the News | |||
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SWEHSC Accomplishments in the News |
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SWEHSC / Superfund investigators will study health effects on Humboldt residents near Iron Mine Superfund Site
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Lau & team receive $1.1 million to hunt for risk biomarkers in type 2 diabetes
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Drs. G. Timothy Bowdenand David Albertsawarded $ 6.9 million by NCI for Chemoprevention of Skin Cancer Program Project
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Paloma Beamer, PhD, Awarded $666K Grant University of Arizona
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NIEHS has funded research training for more than 30 years
With this award, the NIH has funded the program for more than 30 years. The new toxicology training grant will increase the number of predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees. |
Dr. Stefano Guerra awarded $1 million to study Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
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A study that Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona residents have been seeking is finally on the way. The study will examine potential exposure of residents to metals from the Iron King Mine and Humboldt Smelter Superfund site. The research project will be conducted by SWEHSC Investigators Paloma Beamer, Miranda Loh, and Walt Klimecki. At this month's meeting, Klimecki told the town's Environmental Issues Advisory Committee that the University of Arizona researchers will study whether children, their homes and/or water supplies near the Superfund site have unnaturally high levels of seven potentially toxic metals that the Superfund site contains.
Serrine Lau, professor and director of the Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center, serves as the lead principal investigator for the UA and a co-investigator on a new grant from the National Institutes of Health for diabetes research. The research involves a study of human blood samples with the aims of identifying biomarkers for cardiovascular risk in type 2 diabetes.
Drs. G. Timothy Bowden, SWEHSC member, Professor Emeritus of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Arizona College Of Medicine and David Alberts, Professor of Medicine and Director of The University of Arizona Cancer Center have been awarded $ 6.9 million by the NIH National Cancer Institute to study Chemoprevention of Skin Cancer.
Environmental Engineer Paloma Beamer, PhD, SWEHSC member, has been awarded a five-year, $666,000 career development grant to study how exposures to environmental pollutants may lead to the development of respiratory disease in children, particularly in vulnerable and underserved populations. She received the award from the Mentored Quantitative Research Career Development Award from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI).
The College of Pharmacy recently received a grant from the National Institutes of Health that will fund the Research Training in Toxicology and Toxicogenomics program for an additional five years. 
Dr. Stefano Guerra, SWEHSC member, Professor at the University Of Arizona College Of Medicine has been awarded $1 million by the NIH to validate serum biomarker signatures predictive of incident COPD. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a common disease that carries a substantial burden of morbidity and mortality. The study is being conducted in collaboration with SWEHSC members Drs. Fernando Martinez, Duane Sherrill and Dean Billheimer, and with Respiratory Center member Marilyn Halonen.
