Overview
The CEET was launched in 2005 and receives grant support from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). We are the only designated Environmental Health Sciences Core Center in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
About the CEET
Our mission is to elucidate the mechanistic links between environmental exposures and human disease and translate findings into action to improve the health of vulnerable individuals, and local, national, and global communities.
Objective
Our goal is to improve environmental health for overburdened communities in the Philadelphia region; the majority of its urban population lives in Environmental Justice communities plagued disproportionately by environmental pollution.
Targeted Communities
We work with targeted communities in the region to help identify environmental health questions of concern and mobilize the research expertise of our investigators to answer those questions. Communities include West Philadelphia, North Philadelphia, South Philadelphia, Chester, Eastwick, and Lancaster County.
Center Membership
The Center is comprised of over 90 members from 23 Departments and 8 Schools at the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia—as well as neighboring institutions, including Drexel, Temple, Thomas Jefferson, and Swarthmore.
Leadership Team
Director
Trevor M. Penning, PhD
Dr. Trevor M. Penning, the Thelma Brown and Henry Charles Molinoff Professor of Pharmacology, Professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics and Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology, is Director of the CEET and was the founding director of the Center in 2005. He formulated the strategic vision of the CEET from its inception and built the environmental health science identity of the CEET at the University, regional, and national level. He represents the CEET at the School, University, local, state, and federal levels and advocates the CEET mission.
View Faculty Profile
Deputy Director
Sharon McGrath-Morrow, MBA, MD
Dr. McGrath-Morrow is the Associate Chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine and leader of the Post-preemie Lung Disease Clinic at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). She holds the Robert Gerard Morse Endowed Chair in Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine. As Deputy Director of the CEET she plays a key role in center administration and governance. Her appointment at CHOP positions the CEET to conduct environmental health science research at the pediatric-adult divide. She also serves as the Leader for the Air Pollution & Lung Health Thematic Area within the CEET.
View Faculty Profile
External Advisory Board
Allison Fryer, PhD
Professor Oregon Health & Science University Chairperson
Amanda Bryant-Friedrich, PhD
Professor Wayne State University
Julia Brody, PhD
Senior Scientist Silent Spring Institute
Shuk-Mei Ho, PhD
Professor University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Jacquin Niles, MD, PhD
Professor Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Deborah Cory-Slechta, PhD
Professor University of Rochester Medical CenterOpen Faculty Positions
The CEET maintains a vibrant and diverse membership—and we’re always looking to build capacity in environmental health sciences through the recruitment of new faculty. We invite you to view open positions at Penn and join our team.
View Positions