HEALS – Pilot Projects

Center pilot grants are a major driver of career development,  providing postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty with mentorship and access to the Center’s core facilities. They also promote cross-collaboration across departments to encourage the application of environmental health concepts and methodology to other disciplines. In addition, the pilot project program enables Center Members to rapidly respond to community needs.

Over the past 7 years: 

  • 78 applicants received pilot funding awards of $20,000 to $70,000 each for a total of $2,288,295
  • 51 of 78 pilots were awarded to postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty 
  • 12 Community-Based Participatory Research pilot grants were awarded  
  • 21 pilots resulted in successful NIH grant applications (7 K99, 1 R03, 2 R21, 5 R00, 1 R01, and 1 UG3) for a total return on investment of $42,441,086 

PILOT PROJECT APPLICATION

Grant YearProject TitlePI NameMulti-PICo-InvestigatorsAwarded AmountArea of Focus
2021 Association between Air Pollution, Stress, and Sleep Efficiency in 6 -7 year old Children living in East Harlem.Thompson TerryMaida Galvez, MD, MPHRobert Wright MD, MPH; Sarah Evans PHD, MPH; Leon Hsu ScD; Ray Lopez BA; Luz Guel BA,BS$25,000Air Pollution
2021 The Impact of Prenatal Pesticide Exposure on Child Respiratory Outcomes in Mexico CityAlcala CeciliaMaria Jose RosaSyam Andra, Shelley Liu, Robert Wright$25,000Asthma
Children’s Health
Mixtures/co-exposures
Pesticides
2021 School Ventilation and SARS-CoV-2 Test Positivity: A Community-Based StudyDeFelice NicholasMaida GalvezRachel Vreeman Alison Lee, Chris Gennings Nicole Bouvier Laura McGuinn Efrain Guerrero$25,000Children’s Health
Outreach/Community Engagement
2021 (2)Air Pollution, Mitochondrial Heteroplasmy (MH), and Vaccine Efficacy in ChildrenHe MikeMaayan Yitshak-Sade; Elena ColicinoItai Kloog, Allan Just, Corina Lesseur, Robert Wright$25,000Air Pollution
Children’s Health
Gene-Environment Interaction
2021 (2)Prenatal Indoor Air Pollution Exposure and Maternal Asthma Health Among High Risk Obstetric PatientsBose SonaliAngela Bianco, MD; Leon Hsu ScD; Rachel Meislin, MD$50,000Air Pollution
Asthma
Reproductive Health
Women’s Health
2021 (2)Development of a novel retrospective biomarker of fluoride exposure using spatial mapping of teeth by laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS)Martinez MauroChristine Austin PhDManish Arora PhD$25,000Biomarkers
Exposome
Toxicology
2021 Effect of Electronic Cigarette During Pregnancy on Maternal Urinary Metabolomics and the Neonatal Meconium Microbiome Related to Glucose MetabolismKaur KirtanJia Chen (ScD), Lauren Petrick (PhD), Jianzhong Hu (PhD), Laura Stroud (PhD)$20,000Microbiome
Mixtures/co-exposures
Reproductive Health
Smoking and Vaping
Women’s Health
2021 Use of deciduous teeth to link trimester-specific exposures to PFAS and other chemical mixtures with biological response and neurodevelopment outcomes in childrenAustin ChristineSyam AndraPaul Curtin, Heather Volk$25,000Biomarkers
Children’s Health
Endocrine Disruptors
Exposome
Mixtures/co-exposures
PFAS — Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances
2021 Illuminating the “dark matter” of the exposome using a novel analytical workflowRobuck AnnaDouglas Walker$25,000Exposome
2021 Investigating associations of prenatal phthalate exposures and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in Mexican children using non-invasive magnetic resonance imagingValvi DamaskiniAndrea Deierlein; Alejandra Cantoral Preciado; Elena Colicino; Martha Maria Tellez-Rojo; Robert O. Wright$25,000Children’s Health
Endocrine Disruptors
Obesogens
2021 Prospective omics study of risk factors associated with thyroid cancervan Gerwen MaaikeLauren PetrickShyamalee Dassanayake, Seunghee Kim-Schulze, Elena Colicino, Eric Genden$69,972Cancer
Endocrine Disruptors
PFAS — Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances
2021 The Extraordinary Child Hero Organization: A Participant Engagement Project for the Environmental impact on Child Health (ECHO) StudyTeitelbaum SusanEmily Spear$9,713Children’s Health
Outreach/Community Engagement
2021 Characterizing the heat stress exposome to assess acute kidney injury in NYC runnersDeFelice NicholasHomero HarariAlison P Sanders, Steven G Coca$25,000Air Pollution
Biomarkers
Climate Change
Exposome
Mixtures/co-exposures
Weather Extremes
2020 Early-Life Metal Exposure and the Gut Microbiome and Metabolome in ChildhoodEggers ShoshannahManish AroraChris Gennings, Christine Austin, Jeremiah Faith, Douglas Walker, Robert O. Wright$70,000Children’s Health
Exposome
Lead
Microbiome
Mixtures/co-exposures
2020 A longitudinal exposomic analysis of breastmilk to determine associations between persistent organic pollutants, the microbiome and metabolitesWalker RyanDania Valvi, Doug Walker, Chris Gennings$25,000Children’s Health
Exposome
Microbiome
2020 Community-Led Investigation of Air Quality and Environmental Injustice in Proximity to Two Waste Transfer Stations in Jamaica, QueensGalvez MaidaLuz Guel, Andrea Scarborough, Dawn Roberts Semple, Ph.D,  Rebecca Bratspies, JDDanielle Dubno-Hammer$25,000Air Pollution
2020 Characterizing critical windows of developmental metal mixture effects to kidney development and maturation using transgenic zebrafishSanders AlisonWeibin ZhouChris Gennings, Jaime Chu$25,000Biostatistics
Mixtures/co-exposures
Toxicology
2020 Determining exposure to mixtures of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and its association with gestational diabetes in an ethnically diverse U.S. populationValvi DamaskiniSyam AndraRosalind Wright, Elena Colicino$25,000Biomarkers
Endocrine Disruptors
Mixtures/co-exposures
PFAS — Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances
Women’s Health
2020 Leveraging new technologies to assess noise exposure and mobility patterns during COVID-19: a pilot study in NYC womenMcGuinn LauraItai Kloog, Homero HarariRosalind Wright, Robert Wright, Nicholas DeFelice$25,000Women’s Health
2020 Spatial exploration of inter-relationships of Covid-19 infection, metal exposure, transcriptome and immune response in human placentasLesseur CorinaMegan Niedzwiecki, Christine Austin,  Kristin G BeaumontJia Chen, Rachel Brody, Fumiko Dekio$25,000Children’s Health
Exposome
Mixtures/co-exposures
2020 Untargeted analysis of personal environmental exposures during the COVID-19 pandemicWalker DouglasRobert Wright; Rosalind Wright$25,000Exposome
2020 Technology Transfer to Enhance Health Literacy on COVID-19 and Environmental JusticeClaudio LuzMuhammed Idris, PhDMaya Korin, PhD$25,000
2020 A Community-Based Study to Understand the Impact of COVID-19 on Asthma-related Healthcare Utilization in NYC ChildrenDeFelice NicholasErin ThanikDrs. Lauren Zajac, Douglas Bush, Elizabeth Garland$25,000Asthma
2019 Exposure to Perfluoroalkyl Substances, Metabolomic Profiling, and Type 2 Diabetes Risk: A Prospective Investigation in an Ethnically Diverse U.S. Population.Valvi DamaskiniRuth Loos, Douglas Walker$69,988Biomarkers
Gene-Environment Interaction
Obesogens
PFAS — Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances
2019 Examination of Potential Substances Related to CKD in children (EXPOSURE-CKD Study)Goodman SmitaJeffrey SalandManish Arora PhD, Jeffrey Saland MD, Chris Gennings PhD$25,000Biomarkers
Children’s Health
2019 Environmental Noise and Preadolescent Mental Health in Mexico CityMcGuinn LauraItai KloogRobert Wright, Avi Reichenberg, Mara Tellez-Rojo, Ivan Gutierrez$25,000Children’s Health
2019 Identifying the role of early environmental toxicants in newborns with biliary atresiaChu JaimeLauren PetrickElena Colicino, Syam Andra, Sanjiv Harpavat$25,000Biomarkers
Children’s Health
Exposome
Flame Retardants
Mixtures/co-exposures
PFAS — Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances
Pesticides
2019 Untargeted analysis of personal environmental exposures and respiratory outcomes in childrenWalker DouglasMaria RosaMarcela Tamayo y Ortiz$20,000Exposome
Lung Diseases
2019 The Relationship between Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Stress, Telomere Length, and Neurodevelopment in Preterm InfantsZhang XueyingAnnemarie StroustrupAndrea Baccarelli$20,000Biomarkers
Children’s Health
Epigenetics
2019 Phthalates and the developing brain: a multidisciplinary investigation of the effects of prenatal phthalate exposure on early markers of ADHDRommel AnnaAvi Reichenberg, PhDShanna Swan, PhD; Muhammad Parvaz, PhD$20,000Biomarkers
Children’s Health
Endocrine Disruptors
2019 (1)Defining Integrated Environmental Exposure Measures in AdolescentsLevin-Schwartz YuriWright, RobertElena Colicino;
Donald R. Smith
$25,000
2019 Environmental control of mitochondrial division as a signal to initiate skin cancerChipuk Jerry$25,000
2019 Exposomics for agricultural workers in Costa Rica affected by chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu)Sanders AlisonWalker, DouglasJennifer Crowe; Andres Cardenas;
Chris Gennings
$69,608
2019 Using deciduous teeth to assess children’s exposure to tobacco, marijuana, and other environmental toxinsWilson KarenManish Arora; Syam Andra$70,000
2019 Innovating Data Visualization Strategies for Tooth-Based Lead Report-BackEvans SarahArora, Manish; Galvez, MaidaAlison Mears$20,000
2019Predicting response to immunotherapy in hepatocellular carcinoma by dissecting the gut microbiome: a pilot studyLujambio AmaiaAng, Celina; Faith, JeremiahAndrea Branch; Lauren Grinspan; Tomi Jun$50,000
2019 Using eye-tracking to Identify associations between metal exposure and children’s social cognition: A pilot study in Mexico CityRechtman ElzaHorton, MeganRoberto Lucchini;
Paul Curtin;
Manish Arora;
Christine Austin
$25,000
2019 Secondhand smoke in Central and East Harlem: Understating cancer survivors’ and family caregivers’ perceptions of the health consequences of involuntary and voluntary exposure to tobacco smokeMohamed Nihal E.Jandorf, LinaKaren Wilson$50,000

Download full pilot grants report