PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The National Institute on Aging has awarded researchers from the Brown University School of Public Health a $3.8 million grant to establish a center to study the negative health impacts of climate change on aging populations.

Health risks posed by extreme weather caused by climate change are particularly severe for older adults and people with chronic health conditions, said Allan Just, an associate professor of public health and of environment and society at Brown. 

“The center’s goal is to build adaptive strategies that improve the resilience of aging populations, locally and nationally, to the effects of climate change,” he said. “We aim to develop practical solutions that promote healthy aging for all.”

The new Climate, Health and Aging Innovation and Research Solutions for Communities center will draw on scholarship from a range of disciplines at Brown, from public health, to environmental and Earth science, to population studies. Center leaders will work closely with Equitable Climate Futures, an academic initiative focused on building Brown’s capacity for climate research, with an emphasis on under-resourced communities. 

With support from the three-year federal grant, the researchers hope to inform federal, state and local climate and health-related policies, including those focused on health care delivery, housing, energy assistance, and access to clean indoor air when wildfires and air pollution degrade outdoor air quality. They are also conducting studies on medications that could impair thermoregulation, the process by which the body maintains its core internal temperature, making older adults more vulnerable to extreme heat. 

“We wanted to take the research capabilities Brown has in gerontology, particularly our experience with large Medicare datasets, and link them to environmental data on climate change,” Just said. “This way, we can combine expertise in both areas to focus on understanding and mitigating the health impacts of climate change on older adults.”

In addition to Just, who is an epidemiologist affiliated with the School of Public Health and the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, the center’s leaders include Theresa Shireman, director of Brown’s Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research and a professor of health services, policy and practice; Elizabeth Fussell, a professor of population studies and of environment and society; and Emily Gadbois, an assistant professor of health services, policy and practice.

The center will integrate both existing and emerging climate and aging research into work performed by community organizations that serve populations at heightened risk of adverse health effects from extreme heat and air pollution. 

“Working closely with our community partners, we hope to leverage this three-year project to build something bigger and build on research findings to address broader regional, national and even global impacts,” Just said.