Equity and Climate Opportunities for Health (ECO-Health) Center

ABSTRACT (OVERALL) Climate change is an unprecedented threat intensifying health risks and disparities. Social and structural factors like material need insecurities and the built environment converge with climate change to amplify health harms for disproportionately impacted groups, and these factors can be targeted to improve communities’ resilience to

climate-sensitive exposures. California is an ideal test bed for pioneering climate-health solutions, as a global leader in climate action with extensive experience on the frontlines of climate change and with diverse climate- affected communities. The proposed Equity and Climate Opportunities for Health (ECO-Health) Center at the

University of California will use a precision climate and health approach to build a pipeline of epidemiological and community-engaged research characterizing how modifiable social and structural factors shape key health outcomes and disparities across the lifespan in the context of climate-sensitive exposures. The Center will

channel this evidence into equitable climate resilience solutions co-developed and implemented with disproportionately impacted communities. To achieve these goals, the ECO-Health Center will undertake three specific aims. Aim 1 will be to develop and sustain diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA)-centered

researcher training and career development programs, using a foundation of adaptive expertise, to foster the development of early-career, under-represented, and community-based researchers who can generate actionable climate-health knowledge. This will include mentorship, training in state-of-the-art methods, including

machine learning, implementation science, and community-engaged research, and evidence-to-policy translation to support transdisciplinary projects. In Aim 2, through a Research Project, data dashboard, and pilot projects, the ECO-Health Center will generate localized evidence and action-oriented research strategies to

address climate and health justice. Researchers will employ cutting-edge methods to uncover multi-dimensional climate-health vulnerabilities in the contexts of extreme heat and wildfire smoke as well as their co-occurrence, and model hypothetical resilience interventions at the local level. Findings will inform targeted, co-designed

strategies to alleviate disparities through modifications of the built environment and reduced material need insecurities. Fundamental to this work will be the Center’s commitment to developing and maintaining strong, collaborative academic-community research partnerships that are rooted in the principles of equity and justice

and embrace the goal of achieving tangible, equitable health benefits for all. In Aim 3, a Community Engagement Core will follow principles of environmental justice to facilitate community perspectives, disseminate actionable findings, and build capacity. Ultimately, the ECO-Health Center will pioneer a framework for health equity

solutions generalizable across climate-health challenges in the U.S. and worldwide, and will build an innovative, adaptive, and transdisciplinary community of practice prepared to meet the evolving health and equity challenges arising from climate change.