Summary
I am an Environmental Health Scientist with training in environmental health literacy and global health
and my primary research interests include investigating the role of environmental toxicant exposures,
including mixtures, on child respiratory health and implementing effective strategies to increase
environmental health literacy. The goal of this proposal is to enhance my knowledge and to obtain training in
the skills needed to build my academic career by investigating prenatal pesticide exposure and child lung
function and asthma outcomes, assessing environmental health literacy, and implementing effective
dissemination strategies.
Formal coursework and the expert mentorship of Drs. Kecia N. Carroll, Maria José Rosa, Maida Galvez,
Robert O. Wright, Syam Andra, Shelley Liu, Elizabeth Roberts, and Hector Lamadrid-Figueroa will enable me
to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to become an independent transdisciplinary researcher. This
training will allow me to achieve my short and long- term career goals: leading efforts to incorporate prenatal
pesticide assessment and environmental health literacy into the ongoing Programming Research in Obesity,
Growth, Environment, and Social Stressors (PROGRESS) cohort based in Mexico City in order to delineate
prenatal pesticide effects on child lung function and asthma while engaging participants and the community
to inform future interventions. I will train in 1) prenatal programming of child lung disease with Drs. Kecia N.
Carroll and Maria José Rosa; 2) toxicology with Drs. Robert O. Wright and Syam Andra; 3) advanced
statistical methods with Dr. Shelley Liu; 4) implementation science, translational research, and community
outreach with Dr. Maida Galvez; 5) ethnographic and qualitative research approaches with Dr. Elizabeth
Roberts; and 5) fieldwork management with Dr. Hector Lamadrid-Figueroa. I will integrate research on
prenatal pesticides, lung function and asthma, and environmental health literacy through interactions with my
mentorship team to become a transdisciplinary scientist. With their guidance, I will establish myself as an
independent investigator with a tenure track faculty position and to position myself for a future R01.
This proposal will address gaps regarding prenatal pesticide exposure in urban settings particularly in
Latin America, associations with child adverse respiratory outcomes, and factors that may modify
associations, as these are understudied research areas. The proposed research and training plan builds the
foundation for an independent research career that aims to study prenatal environmental exposure effects on
child respiratory health, environmental health literacy, and effective dissemination strategies. This study is
also highly cost effective as we leverage the resources of the longitudinal PROGRESS study with existing
biospecimens, lung function and other respiratory outcomes, and well-characterized covariate data.
