New Environmental Research Released from HHEAR

New articles, co-authored by Westat staff, are now published about data from the Human Health Exposure Analysis Resource (HHEAR), a National Institute of Environmental Health (NIEHS) consortium. Topics include use of the resource model, as well as quality assurance and data harmonization.

The consortium enables National Institutes of Health-funded researchers to measure environmental exposures and integrate their data with other datasets by providing access to laboratory, statistical, and data science analysis services. Westat serves as the HHEAR coordinating center.

Published in a special issue on Biomonitoring Networks in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, the following article describes the structure and strengths of implementing the HHEAR resource model, approaches to addressing challenges, and program successes to date. The Westat HHEAR project director Barbara O’Brien, M.P.H., and senior staff Lori Merrill, M.S., and Susan Viet, Ph.D., are co-authors: Human Health Exposure Analysis Resource (HHEAR): A Model for Incorporating the Exposome into Health Studies.

In the same special issue and also co-authored by Ms. Merrill, this article summarizes the quality assurance and harmonization work on organic chemicals accomplished though HHEAR’s predecessor resource, which focused on environmental influences on children’s health: Quality Assurance and Harmonization for Targeted Biomonitoring Measurements of Environmental Organic Chemicals Across the Children’s Health Exposure Analysis Resource Laboratory Network.

Published in Environmental Research and co-authored by Ms. Merrill, this article parallels the paper above, presenting a summary of quality assurance and harmonization work for trace element analyses though HHEAR’s predecessor resource: Measurement Harmonization and Traceability for Trace Element Analyses Across the Children’s Health Exposure Analysis Resource Laboratory Network.