Amanda Janitz, Ph.D., MPH, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Hudson College of Public Health at the University of Oklahoma, was awarded an approximate $400,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health. This two-year developmental research grant is dedicated to a vital research study aimed at identifying barriers to COVID-19 testing and vaccination within American Indian or Alaska Native populations, with the ultimate goal of improving access to these essential services.

OU researchers have received a $1.8 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to establish a research center to address children’s cumulative health impacts from agricultural and non-chemical exposures. This grant will create the Children’s Environmental Health Center in the U.S. Southern Great Plains, which includes Oklahoma and Texas. The Center will focus on mitigating the chemical and non-chemical stressors that affect school absenteeism caused by gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases.