EHSRC News – Environmental Health Sciences Research Center

PFAS and TCE are the two newest fact sheets that have been released by the EHSRC. These resources cover different environmental contaminants and how they affect health (cancer and non-cancer health risks) and what people can do to protect themselves. View all of the fact sheets here on our resources page. The full packet is available as well as each individual contaminant (Arsenic, Atrazine, Glyphosate, Nitrate, PFAS, Radon, and TCE).

EHSRC Member Michael Welsh receives prestigious Lasker Award for cystic fibrosis research

September 11, 2025 By Phillips, Rose A

Dr. Michael Welsh, Professor of Internal Medicine and longtime EHSRC member, has won the 2025 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award for his fundamental research on cystic fibrosis (CF), which paved the way to new therapies that have transformed the health and life expectancy of people with CF.

Lasker Awards, sometimes called “America’s Nobels,” are among the world’s most prestigious biomedical and clinical research awards.

Welsh shares the award with Jesús (Tito) González (formerly, Vertex Pharmaceuticals) and Paul A. Negulescu (Vertex Pharmaceuticals) for their key roles in developing a novel treatment for CF – a triple-drug combination that saves the lives of people with this lethal genetic disease.

Click here to read more about Dr. Welsh’s Lasker Award.

Community Engagement and Research Translation Fellowship RFP Announced

August 1, 2025 By Curnick, Jacqueline A

Due September 15, 2025

The Environmental Health Sciences Research Center (EHSRC) at the University of Iowa is pleased to announce funding available of up to $10,000 available to facilitate community engaged and translational research related to environmental health.

Read full RFP here

Spotlight on EHSRC’s role in protecting Iowans’ health

April 22, 2025 By Phillips, Rose A

The EHSRC has released a new fact sheet detailing its role in environmental health sciences research aimed at protecting Iowans’ health. Funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the EHSRC is the only environmental health research center in the Great Plains/Midwest region. We focus on pressing state and regional issues including:

Protecting people from naturally occurring carcinogens like radon and arsenic
Keeping farmers healthy by controlling exposure to dust, fumes, and pesticides
Helping people with lung disease adapt to extreme weather and floods

Click here to view the fact sheet

Environmental health sciences research is an economic powerhouse in Iowa, with $2.38 in economic activity for every dollar invested. The economic benefits from EHSRC include:

$64.6 M in economic activity generated since 2007
Over 100 patents by EHSRC researchers since 2007
$9 in additional grants awarded for each $1 invested in our Pilot Grants