A new University of New Mexico center for research on environmental toxins statewide is wrapping up its first year. The center’s director said one of its biggest tasks so far is just getting the word out about their work.
The New Mexico Integrative Science Program Incorporating Research in Environmental Sciences is built to bring together research from across public health and environmental disciplines, with the goal of furthering an understanding of how pollutants like contaminants from uranium mines or toxic fracking chemicals affect the health of people in nearby communities.
Sarah Blossom is the director of the center, and she said it's designed to be highly collaborative, both with research teams at UNM and with the 21 other centers across the country that are funded by the same grant.
"We are part of the climate change interest group," she said. "A lot of these interest groups form among the different centers."
The center is the product of a four-year grant from the National Institutes of Health, totaling about $5 million.
Blossom said that while many of the centers are located on the East Coast, in communities that deal with different environmental issues from New Mexico, this center has been able to collaborate with a similar one at the University of Arizona on research related to issues particular to the Southwest.
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