Environmental Medicine and Climate Science Research

The Department of Environmental Medicine and Climate Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has a long and distinguished tradition of excellence in clinical, translational, and basic research. Our research aims to better understand, treat, and prevent disease of environmental origin. We are national leaders in the study of the “exposome”—the lifetime environmental exposures of individuals, including those that occur even before birth, and how those exposures interact with a person’s unique genetic and physiological makeup. Our department encompasses the allied fields of environmental and occupational medicine, biostatistics, and behavioral science.

Institute for Climate Change, Environmental Health, and Exposomics

The Institute works to advance our understanding of the lifelong effects of environmental exposures on health and translate research findings into new strategies for prevention and treatment.

Divisions

Our Divisions have diverse research portfolios. They are Biostatistics, Environmental Epidemiology, Environmental Health, International Health, Occupational Medicine, Preventive Medicine and Community Health, and Social Work and Behavioral Science.

Laboratories

Laboratory for Innovation in Exposomic Precision Medicine

Senator Frank R. Lautenberg Environmental Health Sciences Laboratory

The Lautenberg Lab’s mission is to measure the human environment comprehensively, including environmental chemicals, air pollution, social stressors, and nutrition. Learn more about current research in the lab.

Physiological Assessment of Children’s Environmental Risk (PACER) Laboratory
The PACER Laboratory within the Department of Pediatrics supports the Phenotyping and Stress Facility Core (PSAFC) for the Center on Health and Environment Across the LifeSpan (HEALS). It provides clinical consultation to investigators across the HEALS, on a range of topics including respiratory studies, cognitive and behavioral studies, and endocrine assessments.

The Bone Lead X-Ray Fluorescence Laboratory is one of the country's leading centers for a novel technique that measures long-term or chronic lead exposure in human bones.

Programs and Centers

Human Health Exposure Assessment Resource (HHEAR)

HHEAR seeks to advance understanding of the influence of the environment on human health over a lifetime. CHEAR provides researchers access to high-quality, exposure-assessment services including, state-of-the-art laboratory analysis of biological and environmental samples, statistical analysis, and expert consultation on exposure analysis, study design, and data analysis and interpretation.

NIH launched the Human Health Exposure Assessment Resource (HHEAR) program, which replaced the National Children’s Study (NCS) program. Our Lab Hub measures environmental exposures, both targeted and untargeted, across pregnancy and childhood to help NIH-funded researchers determine how the environment affects children's health, development, and risk of disease across the life span.

Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO)

Along with researchers at other institutions around the country, Mount Sinai researchers are working to enhance existing cohorts of more than 50,000 pediatric subjects who will be followed over the course of the seven-year project.

New York-New Jersey Occupational Safety & Health Center (NYNJERC)

The NYNJERC is the hub of education and research in Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) in Federal Region 2, comprising the states of New York and New Jersey, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U. S. Virgin Islands.

Pediatric Environmental Health Clinic

The Pediatric Environmental Health Clinic provides outpatient clinical evaluations and coordinated services for children with known or suspected exposures to environmental toxins. The clinic focuses on helping families and communities promote healthy environments where children live, play, and learn.

Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU)

Founded in 1999, the PEHSU translates research into practice, providing clinical consultation and education to families, health care professionals, public health officials, and community organizations who have concerns regarding children's environmental health.

Selikoff Centers for Occupational Health

The Selikoff Centers for Occupational Health have been national and international leaders in the treatment of occupationally caused or exacerbated diseases as well as in the research on environmental toxins, which began over 60 years ago with Dr. Irving Selikoff’s research connecting asbestos exposure and cancer.

Center on Health and Environment Across the LifeSpan (HEALS)/NIEHS P30 Core Center

The Center is an umbrella under which we organize scientists across Mount Sinai engaged in environmental health research. It supports conferences, workshops and trainings, and facilitates the exchange of ideas and fosters new collaborations.

WTC Health Program Clinical Center of Excellence

The WTC Health Program provides medical monitoring and treatment to responders and survivors for physical and mental health conditions related to the events of September 11th, 2001. The Mount Sinai Clinical Center of Excellence administers monitoring and treatment for workers and volunteers (responders) and conducts research on effective diagnostic procedures and treatments for WTC-related health conditions.

Data Centers

HHEAR Data Center for Data Science

In addition to the HHEAR Lab Hub, we also host the HHEAR Data Center in partnership with a research team at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). The Center provides statistical analysis, data integration, and interpretation services to extramural researchers.

World Trade Center Health Program General Responder Data Center

The World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program General Responder Data Center (GRDC) is charged with the data capture, management, analyses and public health surveillance for the WTC Health Program General Responders. The GRDC fulfills these responsibilities using the physical and mental health, exposure, occupational and socioeconomic data generated by the five WTC Health Program General Responder Clinical Centers of Excellence in the NYC metropolitan area, and the Nationwide Provider Network.