UAB to Conduct Research on the Health Impacts of Public Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization

By Micah Hardge | UAB News The University of Alabama at Birmingham will lead a community-based research study funded by the National Institutes of Health to examine how specific modifications of housing and neighborhood conditions affect health outcomes. In collaboration with the Housing Authority of the Birmingham District, the City of Birmingham, and multiple organizations and stakeholders, the $3.7 million Housing, Environment, And Living Conditions for Transformed Health (HEALTHe Birmingham) study will measure the health impacts and cost-effectiveness of different types of improvements such as public housing renovations, neighborhood improvements and indoor air purification. Gabriela Oates, Ph.D., and Lori Bateman, Ph.D. Gabriela Oates, Ph.D., associate professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, will serve as the principal investigator, along with Lori Bateman, Ph.D., assistant professor at UAB, multiple principal investigator. “The disparities in lung disease and other chronic conditions between residents of public housing and the general population are profound, and the resulting human and economic burden is extraordinary,” Oates said. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to determine the effectiveness of large-scale initiatives in reducing these disparities.” HEALTHe Birmingham will assess the health effects of public housing and neighborhood revitalization sponsored by the...