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Focus Areas |
The COEP has developed three primary areas of current emphasis that guide its activities and programs. These include: |
Primary Focus 1. Respiratory illness and cancer.
The Center has significant research emphases on respiratory illness and cancer, which are also significant community health concerns. The COEP draws upon the strengths of investigators from the Respiratory Effects Research Core, where long-term studies on children’s respiratory health are underway, as well as the Cancer Research Core, where there is an extensive history in studying the environmental causes of cancer and exploring the genetic modification of environmental risk factors.
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Primary Focus 2. Exposure to air pollution, including traffic-related (mobile source) pollution.
Air pollution is the number one environmental health concern of Southern Californians and a significant research focus of the Center. Mobile source emissions (from cars, trucks, buses, planes, ships, and equipment) are a particular emphasis of Center research activities since they account for 75% of the air pollution in Southern California. The COEP draws upon strengths of investigators from the Center’s Exposure Assessment Research Core and its Exposure Assessment and GIS Facility Core.
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Primary Focus 3. Integration of environmental health concerns into the transportation planning and decision making processes.
In order to reduce respiratory illness, cancer and other health impacts from mobile source air pollution, scientific findings on exposures and health effects must be integrated into the transportation planning and decision making processes. This focus area involves translating Center science on traffic-related air pollution in order to inform public policy in the transportation arena. A particular emphasis is on the environmental health impacts of international trade through the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the movement of imported goods throughout the region. There is significant community concern because these Ports are the largest port complex in the United States, the number one single source of air pollution in the region, and imports are growing rapidly, resulting in a need to expand marine terminals, freeways, railyards and other transportation infrastructure. For this focus, COEP is able to draw upon the expertise of investigators from multiple Center research and facility cores. This focus has led to a new COEP initiative for the next grant cycle that will involve a health impact analysis, using a “burden of disease” approach to evaluate trade-related health impacts.
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