Federal Project Grant Award Summary

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Inc. received a $3.8 million Project Grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) under the Environmental Health program (CFDA 93.113), awarded on April 23, 2026, with a completion date of April 22, 2030. The award supports a longitudinal research investigation examining how early-life exposure to neighborhood environmental stressors and nephrotoxicants—including air pollutants and metals—affects kidney function and blood pressure trajectories from childhood into early adulthood. The research leverages data from Project VIVA, an ongoing prospective pre-birth cohort of mother-child pairs, enabling long-term follow-up from pregnancy through early adulthood.

The project delivers three primary research products: (1) analysis of associations between early-life neighborhood disadvantage and kidney function/blood pressure outcomes across developmental stages; (2) assessment of individual-level exposure to candidate nephrotoxicants and their relationship to kidney function and hypertension from mid-childhood to early adulthood; and (3) characterization of urinary proteomic signatures underlying altered kidney function and blood pressure trajectories, with evaluation of these signatures as potential biomarkers of toxicant exposure. This innovative research addresses critical gaps in understanding prenatal and early-life environmental determinants of chronic kidney disease and hypertension, which represent substantial public health concerns in the United States.