Urban health and environmental sustainability challenges are pervasive across the globe. The Drexel Urban Health Collaborative is uniquely positioned to connect partners across diverse locations, coordinate exchange and support collaborative research of policies and initiatives that promote health. The Urban Health Collaborative (UHC) engages in a wide range of partnerships and urban health training both in person and virtually.
International Research, Partnerships and Training
Urban Health in Latin America (SALURBAL)
The UHC has strong ties to Latin America. Launched in 2017, the Salud Urbana en América Latina (SALURBAL) Project brings together faculty, students, and staff at Drexel University's Dornsife School of Public Health and from partner institutions across Latin America and the United States.
SALURBAL team members from multiple disciplines study the ways urban environments and urban policies impact the health of city residents throughout Latin America. Project findings inform policies and interventions to create healthier, more equitable, and more sustainable cities worldwide. The SALURBAL data resource includes urban environment, demographic, and health outcome variables for 371 cities across 11 countries in Latin America.
The SALURBAL network (formerly the Urban Health Network for Latin America and the Caribbean, LAC-URBAN Health) brings together public health practitioners, researchers, policy makers and communities to improve health in cities across Latin America and the Caribbean and provide insights relevant to urban areas worldwide.
SALURBAL-Climate
In late 2023, the SALURBAL team was awarded five additional years of funding to continue exploring the impacts of specific climate related exposures, including extreme temperatures, droughts, floods, and air pollution, on health and health inequities in Latin America. “SALURBAL-Climate” is co-led by Dornsife’s Urban Health Collaborative in collaboration with the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. The project builds upon and will expand SALURBAL’s data infrastructure, partnerships, capacity building efforts, and interdisciplinary team to produce actionable evidence to document the health impacts of climate change and inform urban policies and interventions that address these impacts.
Global Alliance for Training in Health Equity Research
The Global Alliance for Training in Health Equity Research (GATHER) is a T-37 training grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the Drexel Dornsife School of Public Health. Trainees from Drexel or other universities advance their careers in global health equity through mentored and skills-based research training.
Drexel-INCAP Training Program on Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Central America
The Drexel Urban Health Collaborative (UHC) and the Research Center for the Prevention of Chronic Diseases (CIIPEC) at the Institute for Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP) offer a training program to research cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk across the lifespan in Central America.