MaineHealth has received a five-year, $1.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to support research and mentorship focused on the impact of “forever chemicals” on children and adolescents.
PFAS, synthetic chemicals found in many consumer and industrial products, are linked to long-term health problems and have been detected in water and food supplies across the United States, including some Maine communities.
The award provides funding for Principal Investigator and Pediatric Endocrinologist Dr. Abby Fleisch to research how exposure to PFAS during childhood may influence obesity, diabetes risk and cardiovascular health later in life.
Fleisch directs the Environmental Exposures, Epidemiology and Health Lab at the Scarborough-based MaineHealth Institute for Research.
“These studies are important,” Fleisch said, “because Maine bears a disproportionate burden of environmental health hazards, including PFAS contamination, radon exposure, woodstove emissions and naturally occurring arsenic.”
The grant will also support Fleisch’s work training junior investigators pursuing careers in environmental health research, a growing area of inquiry.
“This project will help to improve the clinical care of children from central Maine and other communities affected by PFAS contamination,” Fleisch said.
Portland-based MaineHealth, Maine’s largest private employer with more than 22,500 employees, operates nine hospitals. It also has a behavioral health care network and facilities providing comprehensive pediatric care, diagnostic services, and home health, hospice and senior care services.
