Environmental Epidemiology

The Environmental Epidemiology Branch in NCI’s Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program promotes and supports epidemiologic research on modifiable risk factors and cancer to inform and advance the prevention and control of cancer.

Research areas include

chemical and physical agents
environmental exposures
geospatial approaches in cancer control and population sciences
infectious agents and co-infections and cancer
lifestyle factors
social determinants

Learn More About

Interest Areas
Featured Resources
Environmental Epidemiology Initiatives

Program Directors

Investigators seeking grant funding for environmental epidemiology projects are encouraged to contact the scientific staff in the Environmental Epidemiology Branch (EEB) with questions.

EEB Program Directors

Funding Opportunities

EGRP joins with other NCI Divisions, Offices, and Centers and other Institutes and Centers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund grant applications submitted in response to notices of funding opportunities.

View Funding Opportunities

Interest Areas

Learn more about EEB’s interests in the following areas, relevant funding opportunity announcements, related EGRP events, and staff contacts.

Chemical and Physical Exposures

A growing number of chemical and physical agents have been classified as carcinogens by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ National Toxicology Program. EGRP is committed to supporting the study of these agents, their contribution and effects on cancer risk, and the advancement of methodological development to improve these efforts.

Early Life Exposures

EGRP aims to stimulate research focused on the role of early-life factors (maternal-paternal, in utero, birth and infancy, puberty, adolescence, and young adult years) in cancer development later in life.

Gene-Environment Research and Cancer Epidemiology

EGRP is interested in research that integrates biological data with epidemiological data from environmental exposure and germline genetic projects, and includes mechanistic follow-up designed to understand the biological processes involved in the interplay between environmental exposures and genes at the molecular, cellular, and/or organism level.

Geospatial Approaches

NCI is interested in research that integrates and analyzes geospatial data and/or spatial methodology across the cancer control continuum. Geospatial approaches include the use of location-based technologies such as geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), other location-based technologies or may involve improved mapping techniques and applied spatial methodology.

Global Health and Cancer Epidemiology

EGRP supports NCI’s priorities in global health and collaborates with NCI’s Center for Global Health and NIH partners to support research for cancer control and prevention, globally.

Infectious Agents

EGRP partners with others at NCI and NIH to foster investigator-initiated research to better understand the role of infectious agents in cancer.

Microbiome Research

Staff in EGRP partner with others at NCI and NIH to foster analysis of the microbiome and associated metabolites that may assist in the understanding of microbial exposures and their association with disease risk, incidence, progression, and treatment response.

Featured Resources

The Environmental Epidemiology and Cancer Webinar Series

Environmental Epidemiology and Cancer Webinar Series highlights novel cancer research strategies and needs focused on environmental exposures and cancer.

Infectious Agents and Cancer Epidemiology Research

Highlighting cutting-edge research and sharing scientific knowledge about technologies and methods that may enhance and facilitate infection-associated cancer epidemiology research.

Human Health Exposure Analysis Resource (HHEAR)

This NIH-supported resource aims to advance understanding of the influence of environment on human health over a lifetime. Access to the HHEAR data repository, which includes laboratory analyses, epidemiologic data, and associated data science resources, is available through the HHEAR Data Center Portal.

Current Initiatives

Keep up to date about the current Environmental Epidemiology projects and initiatives ongoing at EGRP.

Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program (BCERP)

BCERP supports a multidisciplinary network of scientists, clinicians, and community partners to examine the effects of environmental exposures that may predispose a woman to breast cancer throughout her life.

Cohorts for Environmental Exposures and Cancer Risk (CEECR)

NCI and NIEHS are supporting five cohorts and a coordinating center to conduct innovative research in new prospective cohorts that address knowledge gaps in cancer etiology and carcinogenesis processes with a focus on environmental exposures.

Metabolic Dysregulation and Cancer Risk Program: A Transdisciplinary Approach to Obesity-Associated Cancer Research

The Metabolic Dysregulation and Cancer Risk Program is a transdisciplinary research effort to enhance knowledge of the underlying mechanisms linking obesity, metabolic dysregulation, and increased cancer risk.

Past Initiatives

View information about the Environmental Epidemiology projects and initiatives at EGRP that have been completed.

Long Island Breast Cancer Study Project

The Long Island Breast Cancer Study Project (LIBCSP) was a multistudy effort to investigate whether environmental factors are responsible for breast cancer in Suffolk and Nassau counties, NY, as well as in Schoharie County, NY, and Tolland County, CT.

Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Breast Cancer Study

In 1992, the National Cancer Institute was joined by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to fund a study on factors that may contribute to the high breast cancer mortality rates in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.

Last Updated: 30 Jun, 2025