New Innovator Award Recognizes High-Risk, High-Reward Project to Measure Environmental Impacts on Health
Read the full University of Utah Health article by Sophia Friesen here.
Our environment has a profound effect on our health, but the specifics of those effects can vary widely from person to person. Wildfire smoke that one person might find merely annoying could be debilitating to another. And the variable health consequences of environmental exposures aren’t always immediate or obvious, even when serious.
But what if a doctor could tell you how the air quality where you live impacts your lungs, how your diet changes your gut health, and how a plethora of other environmental factors affect other organs throughout your body—all with a single blood draw?
It might sound like science fiction, and it is—for now. But Yue Lu, PhD, is trying to make it a reality, now powered by a New Innovator Award through the National Institutes of Health Common Fund’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program. Lu, an assistant professor of Molecular Pharmaceutics in the University of Utah College of Pharmacy, received this prestigious award, which is granted to early-career researchers pursuing exceptionally creative and innovative projects with the potential for broad societal impact.
“Dr. Lu’s science is highly innovative and can lead to a better understanding of how our environment is impacting our bodies and health,” says Rachel Hess, MD, associate vice president for research at U of U Health. “We are thrilled that this high-risk, high-reward work has been recognized by the National Institutes of Health and cannot wait to see where Dr. Lu’s research leads.”
