Search Results

Johns Hopkins Core Center for Community Health: Addressing Regional Maryland Environmental Determinants of Disease (CHARMED Center) is to build capacity in community-engaged research aimed at understanding the mechanistic links between environmental exposures and adverse health outcomes and translate these findings into action to improve the health and well-being of vulnerable individuals in communities across the greater Maryland region. Facilty Cores of CHARMED Center Our CHARMED Center houses several Facility Cores that will provide the scientific expertise and support required for conducting community-engaged environmental health research. The Cores include: The Integrated Health Sciences Facilities Core (IHSFC) is led by Nirupama Putcha, MD, MHS, Associate Professor in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Faculty across the University will be able to obtain support and training to engage in Community Engaged Research (study design, biostatistical support, translation) through the IHSFC. The Exposure Characterization And Modeling Facility Core (ECMC) is led by Kirsten Koehler, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Health. The ECMC will provide faculty across JHU resources for assessment of community exposures including in air, water, and soil. The Pilot Grant Program is led by Dr. Thomas Hartung, MD, PhD, Professor of Environmental Health and Engineering leads the Pilot Project Program. Annually pilot project awards will be available to the University community to facilitate and support community-engaged projects that address community environmental concerns. Importantly, through a rapid response process (48 hour turn-around), funds can be rapidly deployed to address more emergent needs of the community-investigator teams.

< Back This is a Title 01 This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. Want to view and manage all your collections? Click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. Here, you can make changes to your content, add new fields, create dynamic pages and more. You can create as many collections as you need. Your collection is already set up for you with fields and content. Add your own, or import content from a CSV file. Add fields for any type of content you want to display, such as rich text, images, videos and more. You can also collect and store information from your site visitors using input elements like custom forms and fields. Be sure to click Sync after making changes in a collection, so visitors can see your newest content on your live site. Preview your site to check that all your elements are displaying content from the right collection fields. Previous Next

Environmental Justice Partnerships Board (EJPB) Members Anacostia Riverkeeper https://www.anacostiariverkeeper.org/ Assateague Coastal Trust https://www.actforbays.org/ B&D Environmental Consulting Baltimore City Council Baltimore City Council District 10 Baltimore City Department of Planning Baltimore City Department of Public Works Baltimore City Mayor's Office of Infrastructure Development Baltimore Green Space https://baltimoregreenspace.org/ Baltimore Office of Sustainability Baltimore Scrap Corp. Baltimore Social Environmental Collaborative

Log In

< Back Brian Chung VP Product This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. Want to view and manage all your collections? Click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. Here, you can make changes to your content, add new fields, create dynamic pages and more. Your collection is already set up for you with fields and content. Add your own content or import it from a CSV file. Add fields for any type of content you want to display, such as rich text, images, and videos. Be sure to click Sync after making changes in a collection, so visitors can see your newest content on your live site. info@mysite.com 123-456-7890

CHARMED Executive Committee Marsha Wills-Karp, PhD Center Director Chair, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Read More Sacoby Wilson, PhD CEC Co-Director Director, Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health Professor, Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health University of Maryland School of Public Health Read More Shashawnda Campbell CEC Co-Director Environmental Justice Coordinator, South Baltimore Community Land Trust Read More Kirsten Koehler, PhD ECMC Director Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Read More Ana Rule, PhD Community TRG Co-Lead Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Read More Gurumurthy Ramachandran, PhD Center Co-Director Professor, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Read More Gregory Sawtell CEC Co-Director Zero Waste Just Transition Director, South Baltimore Community Land Trust President, Community of Curtis Bay Association Read More Nirupama Putcha, MD, MHS IHSFC Co-Director Associate Professor, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Read More Thomas Hartung, MD Pilot Project Program Director Professor, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Read More Christopher D. Heaney, PhD CEC Co-Director Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Read More Walkiria Pool CEC Co-Director President and Founder, Centro de Apoyo Familiar Read More Peter DeCarlo, PhD IHSFC Co-Director Professor, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering Read More Matthew Aubourg, MSPH CEC Coordinator Research Associate, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Read More Anchor 1 BACK TO TOP

BACK TO TOP

< Back Brad Grecco Marketing Associate This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. Want to view and manage all your collections? Click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. Here, you can make changes to your content, add new fields, create dynamic pages and more. Your collection is already set up for you with fields and content. Add your own content or import it from a CSV file. Add fields for any type of content you want to display, such as rich text, images, and videos. Be sure to click Sync after making changes in a collection, so visitors can see your newest content on your live site. info@mysite.com 123-456-7890

2022-23 CHARMED Pilot Projects Regional Air Monitoring of Poultry Emissions in Delmarva (RAMPED) Study Ana Rule, PhD, Assistant Professor, Chris Heaney, PhD , Associate Professor, Katie Kurowski , PhD candidate, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering , Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Maria Payan , Co-Founder, Michael Payan , Co-Founder, Sussex Health & Environmental Network , Sentinels of Eastern Shore Health Poultry operations on the Delmarva Peninsula (Delaware, Maryland and Virginia) pollute the air, water and soil of neighboring communities. Ammonia, particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen are some of the major pollutants from the waste, feed and other byproducts of poultry production. Impacted communities tend to be low-income or communities with high percentages of Hispanic populations, creating an environmental justice issue. Our team from the Sussex Health & Environmental Network (SHEN), the Sentinels of Eastern Shore Health (SESH), and Johns Hopkins University (JHU), are proposing a community-based air monitoring network to examine particulate matter, gas concentrations and fecal contamination from poultry operations and related infrastructure on the Eastern Shore. In Aim 1, we will deploy 4 stationary PM monitors and mobile gas monitoring to supplement an existing PM unit; this will create a monitoring network to quantify community air pollution attributable to poultry CAFOs and related biofuel infrastructure. In Aim 2, we will use poultry-specific fecal microbial source tracking markers to quantify community surface contamination. In Aim 3, we will work with our community partners to disseminate the gained knowledge and provide scientific support and evidence for current and future policy changes and legal action that are ongoing in the region. We plan to build capacity for community science by creating a community-led and -maintained air monitoring network, as well as characterize poultry CAFO-related air pollution in the Eastern Shore region of Maryland and Delaware. Community Health Effects of Coal Dust (CHECD) Study Christopher Heaney, PhD, Associate Professor, Lauren Deanes, PhD candidate, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering , Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Shashawanda Campbell (Environmental Justice Coordinator), Greg Sawtell (Zero Waste Just Transition Director), Meleny Thomas (Development Without Displacement Director), South Baltimore Community Land Trust Curtis Bay’s coal terminal is one of America’s oldest such facilities having been built in the 1880’s in what was a thriving working-class community. Over the years, industrial facilities continued to expand in Curtis Bay. Today, predominantly low-income and African-American, Curtis Bay is socially cohesive and culturally rich, but remains plagued by environmental hazards and threats to health and quality of life from expansions of industrial facilities. For example, in December 2021, a major explosion caused by a buildup of methane and particulate coal dust in tunnels at the CSX coal terminal. This incident galvanized residents who organized with the Community of Curtis Bay Association (CCBA) and South Baltimore Community Land Trust (SBCLT) around the goals of reversing decisions on industrial facility expansions and advancing a vision of fair development to spark transitions away from industrial operations toward improvements of neighborhood environmental conditions that promote residents’ health and well-being. CCBA and SBCLT achieve these goals by educating the public, local media, and politicians about on-going problems in their community. To better inform educational outreach, CCBA and SBCLT initiated research on their own, canvassing homes and collecting residents’ testimony and concerns with the coal terminal, including the explosion. In 2022, CCBA and SBCLT partnered with the Bloomberg School of Public Health to systematically gather data on air pollutant emissions from the coal terminal. The proposed project builds on this community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnership to: (1) quantify community exposures to air pollution emissions from the CSX coal terminal; (2) evaluate relationships between air pollution exposures and neighbor’s ratings of coal dust accumulation, malodor, health, irritation, quality of life, and mood measures; (3) support SBCLT’s efforts to adapt and replicate this pilot in coal terminal host-communities facing similar environmental and health disparities. This pilot will provide preliminary scientific data on the health effects of coal dust, uniquely positioning us to extend our approach to coal terminal host communities across the Maryland region and the U.S. Neighborhood Walkability and Lifestyle Activity: Examining Promising Pathways to Improve Cognitive Health in Baltimore City Older Adults Kyle Moored, PhD , Assistant Research Professor, Department of Mental Health , Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is severely debilitating for patients, caregivers, and the healthcare system. Given a lack of effective pharmacologic treatments; physical, cognitive, and social engagement have all been identified as promising non-pharmacologic preventions for AD. Yet, existing research linking activity engagement to AD typically focuses on the individual and ignores the environmental context that contributes to health and health behaviors. Neighborhood walkability (e.g., proximity of destinations, street connectivity, safety, public transit) is one such factor that may facilitate activity engagement and cognitive health in later life. To address this gap, we propose to link neighborhood data with multimodal, individual-level activity measures to assess how walkability contributes to AD-related risk behaviors for older adults in the Baltimore Experience Corps Trial (BECT). We further plan to examine whether the BECT volunteering intervention was especially effective at improving activity for older adults in less walkable areas, who may face barriers to activity engagement in their immediate environment. The proposed project naturally builds upon the PI’s (Dr. Moored’s) research on activity engagement and AD risk by adding an environmental perspective. This project is especially relevant for the CHARMED Pilot Program, given its inclusion of residents from a representative cross-section of Baltimore City neighborhoods. Importantly, this work would provide a foundation for future research to inform novel yet equitable structural interventions of interest to community stakeholders (e.g., Baltimore City Division of Planning, Baltimore Commission on Aging, AARP Foundation) to encourage activity engagement and reduce AD risk in older Baltimore residents. Assessing Strengths, Stressors, and Environmental Justice in Southeastern (ASSESS) Pennsylvania Communities Sara Lupolt, PhD , Assistant Scientist, Pete DeCarlo, PhD , Associate Professor, Keeve Nachman , Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering , Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Thorn Nixon , Chester, Pennsylvania resident and community leader Echo Alford , Clean Air Council Mike Ewall , Energy Justice Network Lora Snyder , Marcus Hook Area Neighbors for Public Health Petrochemical and other industrial facilities in southern Delaware County, PA pose ongoing environmental health concerns to fenceline residents. A successful partnership between residents, community groups and JHU researchers yielded high resolution air quality measurements that demonstrate elevated air pollution levels. Building on this work, the goal of this pilot is to generate a holistic snapshot of current community concerns regarding environmental and non-chemical stressors, and assess community perspectives and priorities for health-related intervention. Using quantitative (survey) and qualitative (focus groups) methods, we will focus on building trust and capacity for future environmental health and advocacy work. We will leverage these findings to pursue additional funding opportunities to inform policy solutions that prevent new environmental hazards, reduce existing hazards, and heal past damage in these environmental justice communities. BACK TO TOP