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.