Date July 1, 2026
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Research retreat empowers the next generation of environmental health leaders

By Juan Siliezar

At a Brown University retreat hosted by the Center for Climate, Environment & Health, researchers from across New England united for mentorship and cross-disciplinary partnership, building lasting community for early-career scientists fighting for our future.

Climate, environmental conditions and human health are deeply interconnected, shaping the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat and the communities where we live, work and raise families.

And because our environments touch nearly every aspect of daily life—from chemical exposures in the womb to climate-threatened nursing homes—many environmental scientists agree that solving these challenges will require researchers from across disciplines learning from one another and working together.

Earlier this spring, the Brown University School of Public Health’s Center for Climate, Environment & Health (CCEH) hosted the Environmental Health Scholars Retreat to help foster just that kind of collaboration.

The two-and-a-half-day event brought together doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty and environmental health leaders from 11 institutions from across New England. The retreat created space for early-career scholars and established leaders to learn from one another through trainee research presentations, faculty mentoring and workshops. Past attendees have gone on to successful research careers.

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Lindsey Russo, a postdoctoral research fellow at Cornell University, presented her work at Brown's 2026 Environmental Health Scholars Retreat.

A young man stands before an audience in a classroom setting presenting his works and scientific slides.
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Pablo Knobel is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

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Sofia Michelle Osuna Uribe, a doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts Amhearst, discusses her work with audience members.

This year’s participants shared research on topics including climate change, air pollution, toxic metals, endocrine-disrupting chemicals and environmental justice while building professional connections and receiving feedback on their work.

For many, the opportunity was a valuable opportunity to exchange ideas and build professional relationships that they said would extend beyond the event.

“We had such an engaged group of fellow trainees,” Lisa Frueh, a doctoral candidate at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health shared. “I walked away with several new ideas about my own research and grew my network of peer scholars.”

Organizers from the Center for Climate, Environment & Health said the retreat reflects the growing need for collaboration across public health, medicine, data science, engineering, policy and other fields to translate environmental health research into actions that improve health and strengthen communities.

“Being an early-career researcher is more challenging than ever because of the low funding rates, highly competitive market for faculty positions and lack of support for studying environmental justice and health disparities," said Joseph Braun, professor of epidemiology at Brown and CCEH director. “I hope that the attendees develop and foster lasting relationships with each other that lead to new collaborations and research findings.”

Tags
Epidemiology Environmental Health

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