Labs & Initiatives

At NYU School of Global Public Health, we are dedicated to providing our students with a wide range of opportunities for involvement. GEH is home to a diverse set of dynamic centers, labs, and initiatives. These resources serve as valuable platforms for student engagement and growth. By actively participating in our labs, students gain access to invaluable mentorship and collaborative experiences with faculty members and peers. They have the chance to cultivate their skills within innovative, action-oriented learning settings. Our labs offer an exceptional platform for students to develop and execute projects while contributing to real-world applications. Through these immersive experiences, students seize the opportunity to tackle pressing health challenges and contribute to the development of meaningful solutions. Below, you will find a list of labs facilitated by our GEH faculty, each providing unique opportunities for students to make a lasting impact.

Applied Global Public Health Initiative (AGPHI)

The Applied Global Public Health Initiative (AGPHI) is a student run, service-based initiative working to create better health circumstances in New York City and beyond through collaborating with outside organizations to find innovative solutions to public health problems. Composed of undergraduate and graduate students, this lab is overseen by Dr. Chris Dickey and focuses on project-based global public health research in partnership with industry sponsors and frequently hosts renowned guest speakers to discuss creative solutions to public health issues around the world. By working with small, up-and-coming NGOs to ministries of health to larger UN agencies, the lab seeks to develop and nurture applicable, thoughtful and practical skills for our future careers. In doing so, we work to expand our understanding of what it means to be public health practitioners. Overarching research initiatives focus on global public health challenges that require an applied approach to problem solving. During our all-lab weekly meetings, we exchange ideas, discuss current events through a global health lens, and share opportunities for growth on our various projects.

Visit the AGPHI webpage to learn more!

Leadership: Hyacinth Burrowes, Epiphany Charles, Lisa Ortiz, Nahom Daniel, Jessica Riegert

Climate Justice & Health Lab

The Climate Justice & Health Lab (CJHL) is focusing on developing research projects examining the long-term health impacts of acute disasters like Hurricanes Katrina, Sandy and Ian, as well as the California wildfires. Members in the CJHL examine how communities grapple with risk perception and decision-making for slow onset climate disasters such as sea-level rise and coastal erosion. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, lab members will develop the skills needed to form a holistic approach to understanding the health impacts of climate change and disasters. CJHL goals are:

• Use interdisciplinary research to advocate for communities impacted by climate change and disasters.
• Provide mentorship for students motivated to study the intersection of climate and health.
• Create a community of learning and knowledge sharing for GPH students who are interested in the climate emergency.
• Use a team-science approach to understand how to mitigate and adapt to the impact of climate and disasters on health.

Visit the Climate Justice & Health Lab webpage to learn more!

Leadership: Katie Lynch, Gabriella Meltzer, Elizabeth Carr, Jianan Zhu

Global Action for Urban Health

Urban health is an evolving area of research, education, practice, and policy making. Students are in a strong position to be part of these developing activities to advance the evidence base on research, implementation and evaluation in urban health. The Global Action for Urban Health Lab, co-developed by Dr. Jo Boufford and Dr. Alexis Merdjanoff, provides a space for students both within and outside of GPH to collaborate on various projects around urban health worldwide. The primary goals of this lab are for students: (1) to learn about the role of cities in global health and the role of urban governance in health, including policy approaches both across agencies and in public-private partnerships in the context of the SDGs and UN-Habitat’s New Urban Agenda (2) to develop a network of academic programs, faculty, and students across NYU focusing on urban health; (3) to engage with UN agencies and national/ municipal governments, international and domestic NGOs, urban health researchers, practitioners and policy makers worldwide (4) to develop skills for data collection, analysis and project implementation of priority urban health programs from collaborating organizations; and (5) to build on the platform of the International Society for Urban Health as a global network of researchers, educators, practitioners and policy makers committed to improving health and health equity in cities.

The Global Action for Urban Health Lab provides a platform for both individual and team activities with students from different disciplines and areas of interest from GPH and graduate students from across other NYU schools and programs (e.g., Wagner Urban Planning, Rudin Institute, Real Estate Institute, CUSP, Engineering, Marron Institute, Stern, Journalism, Institute for Public Knowledge, Furman Center, Geography, Department of Population Health at Langone, Tisch School of the Arts, etc.).

Projects for the lab will be proposed by faculty advisors and other faculty in partnership with participating local and global organizations, though individual and small groups of students may develop their own proposals. Each project will have a student lead to serve as the point of contact for the faculty advisor and “client” organization. Opportunities to potentially tie lab activities to student thesis projects or Applied Practice Experiences can be discussed with the faculty advisors.

The lab meets every two weeks and regularly brings in speakers and experts within and outside of NYU.. For more information or if you’re interested in joining the lab, please email urbanhealthlabnyu@gmail.com.

Visit the Global Action for Urban Health webpage to learn more!

Leadership: Gina Gonzales, MPH

Implementing Sustainable Evidence-based Interventions through Engagement (ISEE)

Implementing Sustainable Evidence-based interventions through Engagement Lab (ISEE) is focused on assessing factors that are essential to scale up of evidence-based intervention (EBI) to achieve optimal health outcomes by engaging communities in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Our research areas include:  

• Implementing interventions to improve the lives of people living with Sickle Cell Disease 
• Establishing the connections between co-morbidities, HIV/AIDS Syndemic, and health outcomes; determine targets for implementation of EBI for people living with HIV/AIDS and co-morbidities 
• Assessing and implementing interventions to improve outcomes for Obstetric Hemorrhage and Maternal Health 
• Advancing the science of implementation research via instrument development

ISEE strives to understand the why, where, and how evidence-based interventions are adopted and maintained by some communities and not others in LMIC. Because context is important to consider in global health, approaching interventions with cultural sensitivity and collaborating with in-country partners is essential to engagement. Our research is based on well-studied implementation research principles, theories, and frameworks. 

Visit the ISEE Lab webpage to learn more!

Leadership: Joyce Gyamfi, EdD, MS; Dorice Vieira, MLS, MA, MPH; John Pateña, MPH, MA; Emeka Iloegbu, MSc, MPH

Interventions to Reduce Disparities in Addictions Research Program (IDEAS)

The IDEAS Lab is based within NYU’s School of Global Public Health (GPH) and concentrates on areas of study relate to tobacco, alcohol, and drug addiction and corresponding health disparities. Some of our research projects include investigating the impact of e-cigarette marketing strategies’ on youth use, researching e-cigarettes as a harm reduction strategies in smokers diagnosed with alcohol use disorder, opioid use disorder, and people living with HIV/AIDS. These research projects will help inform future tobacco and drug policies and will enhance our understanding of the health disparities experienced by vulnerable populations. 

Our Lab Mission is to create an engaging environment for both graduate and undergraduate students where they can learn quantitative and qualitative research and developing valuable research skills, such as writing and publishing manuscripts, conducting literature reviews, grant writing, and collecting and analyzing data.

We are currently recruiting undergraduate and graduate students to become lab members in addition to two leadership positions. Please send an email to meghan.durr@nyulangone.org for application details. 

Visit the IDEAS Lab webpage to learn more!

Leadership: Katelyn Gee

Environmental Impact Analysis Lab

The Environmental Impact Analysis (EVIA) Lab is dedicated to collaborating with local government and community groups to investigate environmental risk factors, with a focus on heavy metal concentrations in the New York Metropolitan area. Moreover, the EVIA Lab unites students from diverse backgrounds to address urban environmental health issues, providing a platform to learn assessment methods and creating environmental hazard databases for scholarly use. 

Since its inception in 2023, the EVIA lab has collected and analyzed 500+ soil samples. Currently, members are assessing soil near schools and parks in the Bronx and Queens, aiming to create a spatial distribution map for future research and public health policies. Future projects include community air quality, noise pollution, and solid waste management, all within the context of environmental justice.

Leadership: Jack Caravanos, Prince Michael Amegbor, Bret Ericson, Ravi Kumar Chalhotra (GPH Student), and Rahul Kulkarni (GPH student) 

To learn more visit the EVIA webpage! For further inquiries reach out to jack@nyu.edu