Residents hold signs expressing the need for health monitoring and environmental studies in the wake of the 2023 train derailment and chemical spill during Joe Biden’s visit to the village on Feb. 15, 2024. The University of Pittsburgh received additional NIH funds this month to continue to study the impact of the rail disaster of community health. (File photo by Stephanie Elverd)

EAST PALESTINE — On Friday, U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-PA) announced that the University of Pittsburgh was awarded $440,000 of the $10 million research initiative that was announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) earlier this year to assess and address the long-term health outcomes stemming from the 2023 East Palestine derailment.

Pitt is one of three universities in a consortium leading the studies which are funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with $2 million over five years at the direction of the Trump administration “with a focus on community-engaged, high-impact research.”

Pitt’s study will assess health outcomes related to the liver and the liver/thyroid axis — specifically evaluating health outcomes related to the liver and the liver-thyroid axis using advanced, non-invasive technologies, including FibroScan, a device designed to measure liver fibrosis.

“Shortly after the derailment occurred we partnered with community members to address their health challenges,” said Dr. Maureen Lichtveld, Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh. “Therefore, our research has focused on addressing concerns about children’s health, the safety of the drinking water and indoor air, and the damage to the liver, since Vinyl Chloride, one of the major chemicals spilled can cause liver significant damage now and over time.”

Lichtveld and Pitt have already been studying liver health in the wake of the derailment with a study funded by six NIH grants that were announced by then-President Joe Biden shortly after the first anniversary of the derailment and during Biden’s trip to the village on Feb. 15, 2024.

The additional $10 million in funding by NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) created the opportunity to continue what the other grants started.

“This NIH funding enables us to continue our research into the health impacts of the East Palestine train derailment on affected communities in both Ohio and Pennsylvania,” said Dr. Juliane Beier, the Principal Investigator of the new study. “The liver and thyroid biospecimen analyses we’ll conduct are essential components for understanding the long-term health effects from this incident. This funding to the University of Pittsburgh allows us to provide comprehensive liver health monitoring these communities need.”

The University Of Kentucky, which like Pitt was awarded funds from the 2024 NIH grants, also received a proportion of the $10 million initiative and will serve as the program lead and collaborate with program partners to develop the health needs assessment, longitudinal study, training, and a health tracking system.

Yale University will also contribute to the program’s health needs assessment and the longitudinal study by conducting hydrological water quality modeling to identify geospatial patterns leading from the train derailment to potential groundwater and drinking water contamination.

“Together, these research teams will develop and execute a comprehensive strategy to address the health concerns and the needs of the residents impacted by the East Palestine derailment,” a statement from Deluzio said.

selverd@mojonews.com