Methods Development Research Core

PROJECT SUMMARY (METHODS DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH CORE) The University of Southern California (USC) CLIMAte-Related Exposures, Adaptation, and Health Equity (CLIMA) Center’s Methods Development Research Core (MDRC) will address current modeling and data gaps that are critically important to inform climate action policy for health equity. Climate hazards are not only

increasing separately, but they are also more likely to occur concurrently or consecutively as compound events, challenging the adaptive capacity of systems and human resiliency to withstand their effects. These dependencies lead to more complex and correlated patterns of climate-induced exposures which are also not

equally distributed and require new and transdisciplinary methods to accurately capture their distribution in space and time with high resolution and assess their risks at varying scales. Given the increasing complexity and transdisciplinary nature of climate change (CC) and health research, and the multitude of intertwined CC-induced

exposures, this Core has the potential to significantly advance modeling capabilities and inform policymakers with early, real-life evidence on the effectiveness and gaps of adaptation strategies to strengthen CC resiliency, especially in the face of emerging threats from less well-understood compound events. Early lessons learned

can inform local, regional, and global solution-oriented research and policy for climate health equity. The MDRC will be guided by the following aims: (1) develop cutting-edge, high spatiotemporal resolution models to accurately characterize climate-related environmental exposures (urban heat islands, wildfire smoke plumes),

vulnerability factors (power outages), and adaptation strategies (air conditioning penetration, tree canopy shade); (2) leverage these improved, fine-scale models to inform where adaptation interventions are most needed based on the intersection of climate-induced exposures, population vulnerability, and adaptive capacity (Environmental

Justice cumulative burden (CalEnviroScreen)); natural disaster preparedness (Social Vulnerability Index); and climate vulnerability (Climate Vulnerability Index) in partnership with the Community Engagement Core (CEC); and (3) explore transdisciplinary frameworks and build capacity towards modeling cumulative impacts of CC-

related compound events on exposures, adaptation vulnerabilities, and cardiovascular health and resilience across the life course (in partnership with the Research Projects).