Ongoing Research

Environmental Resources for Individual Cognitive Health/Resilience (EnRICH) is an NIH-funded R01 led by Dr. Marcia Pescador (Boston University). It investigates how environmental resources (green space, air quality, noise, heat, walkability and neighborhood amenities) interact with individual risk factors to shape cognitive trajectories, functional independence and MRI biomarkers in racially and ethnically diverse U.S. older adults.

Highlights

• Scope: five NIH cohorts (>80 K participants, up to 30 years of follow-up).
  
  

• Tools: deep-learning analysis of satellite and Street View imagery, life-course exposome models.

• Impact: actionable evidence for healthier, more equitable cities.
  
  

• Partners: BU, UC Davis and Latin-American collaborators.

RESPOnD (Race/ethnicity and Environmental Stressors: Potential Drivers of Dementia and Stroke Inequities) is an NIH R01 led by Dr. Marcia Pescador. The study examines how combined environmental stressors (limited green space plus higher air pollution, noise, extreme heat, deprivation and violence) affect vascular risk factors, stroke and dementia, focusing on Black and Latino adults.

Highlights

• Aims: (1) quantify multi-stress exposures in mid-life; (2) link them to vascular risk and MRI biomarkers; (3) model urban interventions to close dementia and stroke gaps.

• Data: REGARDS, KHANDLE, STAR (32 K participants, 20-year follow-up) merged with high-resolution pollution, noise, heat and violence datasets.

• Methods: exposome-mixture indices, causal mediation, g-formula simulations.

• Outcome: policy-relevant guidance for brain-healthy, climate-resilient neighborhoods that reduce racial/ethnic inequities.