Think PHRESH
Think PHRESH explores how changing neighborhood conditions throughout life contribute to healthy aging, including thinking and memory. The study evaluates the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, which Black Americans are twice as likely to develop than White Americans.
By following participants’ life course exposures to structural racism at the neighborhood and individual levels, the study aims to determine whether these contribute to cognitive outcomes. In addition to exploring an understudied population, Think PHRESH aims to promote healthy aging.
Health and High Water
Black Americans are disproportionately affected by the environmental impacts of climate change. Building on our PHRESH cohort, we will examine indoor air quality and basement dust to better understand whether and how rainfall and flooding in our region might impact the respiratory health of residents.
The overall goal of Health and High Water is to understand and find solutions for the environmental injustices experienced by residents living in predominantly Black neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We work with community partners to ensure that we ask the right questions, disseminate our findings, and use community-based scientific research to come up with effective community and policy-based solutions.
More about health and high water
An Ongoing Study of Neighborhood Health and Well-being
For 30 years—until 2013 through 2019—Pittsburgh’s Hill District was without a full-service supermarket. The original PHRESH study began by looking at residents' health and nutrition, their food shopping (where they bought food, how they got there), perceptions about their neighborhood, and access to healthy food options, and then looked at what changes occurred after a supermarket opened. Since then, the PHRESH study has expanded in several ways and continues to look at whether and how neighborhood improvements affect our health and well-being:
- Diet and exercise habits
- Resident use of parks and neighborhood green spaces
- Transportation access
- Perceptions of neighborhood safety
- Neighborhood conditions
- Heart health, including blood sugar and blood pressure
- Sleep quality
- COVID-19 pandemic related outcomes including food security, distress, and employment impacts
- Mental health
- Respiratory health
Community-Focused Research
We believe that the more communities know about the health of their residents, the more empowered they can become. PHRESH is supported by community advisory boards made up of neighborhood residents and representatives from local businesses and nonprofit organizations. We are committed to sharing the study's results with residents, policymakers, and community organizations at public meetings in the Hill District and Homewood.