School Receives Grant to Assess Health of Ground Zero Cleanup Workers

Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health a grant for $601,294 to continue assessing the health of workers involved in the cleanup of the World Trade Center site. The grant is part of the $10.5 million HHS and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) have designated for training and research to address the health concerns related to the World Trade Center attacks.

Alison Geyh, PhD, an assistant scientist in environmental health sciences, began assessing workers at Ground Zero in October and December. Over the next year, Dr. Geyh will develop a registry of the estimated 3,000 to 4,000 workers involved in removing and transporting debris from the World Trade Center site. The registry will be used for study questionnaires and function tests that will assess the workers’ respiratory health, quality of life, and mental health, and to conduct outreach for workers.

HHS Press Release