Chunrong Jia, assistant professor of environmental health in the University Of Memphis School Of Public Health, has been invited to become a JPB Environmental Health Fellow.
“I am so honored to be selected to this prestigious fellowship program,” said Jia. “The support from this fellowship will help me extend my current research, develop new research agendas and establish wide collaborations.”
According to their website, the JPB Environmental Health Fellowship Program was developed “to promote multidisciplinary research on how the social and physical environment interact to influence health and to look particularly at these determinants of health on disadvantaged communities.”
The fellowship program identifies the urgency of these problems and the desire to teach a new wave of scholars to conduct research and produce solutions; recognizing these problems, the fellowship program will do things like provide a “multidisciplinary training experience that will emphasize scholarship and leadership” and “create a cadre of research leaders committed to finding solutions to complex environmental health problems.”
Jia said the process he had to go through in order to receive this invitation was both “competitive and selective.”
“I was first nominated by our school dean, Dr. Lisa Klesges, to the program,” said Jia. “I was then invited to apply to the program, asked to submit the required application materials to the review committee, invited to the on-site interview at Harvard University and finally selected to the fellowship program.”
“Out of the 12 selected fellows: nine assistant professors were selected from SUNY Albany, University of Montana, Georgia State University, Columbia University, University of Memphis, University of Texas-El Paso, Boston University, UC San Diego, and Northeastern; and three government fellows were selected from HUD, NIOSH and NOAA,” Jia said.
When one gets invited to become a JPB fellow, he or she gets to enjoy the several perks of the program, with advantages such as working in their home institutions, being mentored and collaborating opportunities with three top scientists at Harvard University and obtaining support of up to $350,000 for his/her research.
“The JPB Fellowship Program provides funding, training, mentoring and a collaborative environment to promote community-based environmental health research,” said Jia. “It is also very conducive to fellows’ research and careers.”
Having a JPB Environmental Health Fellow can also help improve the overall health of the community, said Klesges.
“We are fortunate to have Dr. Jia’s expertise in the School of Public Health and this opportunity to extend his research efforts focused on community-based urban health improvement,” said Klesges. “Creating healthier homes and environments, especially improving air quality, can lead to significant health benefits and improve the well-being of families in the region.”
“I plan to focus on fields such as environmental health disparity, exposome assessment, emerging chemicals and health, and multi-pollutant exposure and epidemiology,” said Jia. “I am excited about this opportunity to work with the most promising young scientists to find solutions to complex environmental health challenges in Memphis as well as in the nation.”
