OverallABSTRACT The vision for the Texas A&M Center for Environmental Health Research (TiCER) is to nucleate research and translational activities of faculty and trainees around the overarching theme ?Enhancing Public Health by Identifying,UnderstandingandReducingAdverseEnvironmentalHealthRisks.?Thisvisionwillbeachievedby building on Texas A&M University?s ongoing investments in people and facilities and a history of state-wide outreachtocommunitystakeholders,withaparticularfocusonunderservedpopulations.Existingenvironmental health investments at Texas A&M provide infrastructure and a diverse expertise base ready to catalyze innovative investigations into environmental health concerns of affected communities and populations, build multidisciplinary collaborations among Center members to elucidate mechanistic links between environmental exposures and adverse health outcomes, and translate mechanistic data to actionable outcomes. The Center will continue recent successes in mentoring junior faculty, recruitment of additional established faculty into environmentalhealthresearch,andfosteringamulti-disciplinary,team-orientedintellectualenvironmentamong acoregroupof54membersrepresenting11collegesatTexasA&M.ThethematicareastheCenterwillexpand upon are: 1) Stressors to Responses;? 2) Environment and Metabolism;? 3) Individuals to Populations;? and 4) Community,RegulationandPolicy.TheCenter?svisionwillbefulfilledthroughahighlyintegratedsetofFacility Cores. The Integrated Health Sciences Facility Core will support bi-directional translation with a human translationalstudiescomponent,amousetranslationalstudiescomponentandaninvitrotranslationalstudies component. Three technology-integrating, research facility cores (Data Science, Bio Science, and Chem Science)willensureCentermemberaccesstounparalleledinstrumentationandresourcesofTexasA&M,atop tier public research university with extensive outreach throughout the state of Texas. The facility cores will enhance the capacity, breadth, collaborative nature, and impact of environmental health research. The AdministrativeCoreandPilotProjectProgramwillfacilitatetheCenter?sfunctionbyensuringcontinuationofthe highestlevelsofinstitutionalsupport,fosteringcareerdevelopmentandpromotingmultidisciplinaryteamscience thatgeneratesknowledgeinareasofcommunityconcern.TheCommunityEngagementCorewillbeacritical vehicleforimplementationofamulti-prongstrategyoftheCenterbyservingasabi-directionalportaltoconnect Centermembers,affectedcommunitiesandotherstakeholdersthatbuildsonastrongtraditionofTexasA&M inpublicandcommunityservicestatewidewitharesearchfocusonthehealthandenvironmentalconcernsof underserved populations. Overall, the Center will expand the established investigator base and expertise that canbedeployedtoincreasetheimpactofenvironmentalhealthresearchinTexasandbeyond.
Overall NARRATIVE The Texas A&M Center for Environmental Health Research (TiCER) will nucleate research and translational activities of faculty and trainees around the overarching theme ?Enhancing Public Health by Identifying, Understanding and Reducing Adverse Environmental Health Risks.? This vision will be achieved by building on Texas A&M University's ongoing investments in people and facilities and a history of state-wide outreach to community stakeholders, with a particular focus on underserved populations. Overall, the Center will expand the established investigator base and expertise that can be deployed to increase the impact of environmental health research in Texas and beyond.
