Advancing Environmental Health Equity for Allergy/Immunology Patients

These AAAAI members are helping patients in underserved communities thanks to a new AAAAI grant

In communities across the country, AAAAI-funded researchers are partnering directly with families, schools and local organizations to tackle the environmental factors that worsen asthma and other allergic diseases. From air-quality monitoring in Chicago homes to school-based asthma interventions in St. Louis and community health worker programs in Rochester, these projects are turning research into practical solutions.

In 2025, three AAAAI members received Environmental Health Equity Research Awards, a program launched through a presidential initiative of Jonathan A. Bernstein, MD, FAAAAI, to support community-engaged projects advancing environmental health equity.

Sharmilee M. Nyenhuis, MD, FAAAAI

These projects have made tremendous progress in addressing disparities while engaging with local communities across the U.S. Sharmilee M. Nyenhuis, MD, FAAAAI, for example, is working with the East Side Community Area on Chicago’s south side, which is a predominantly Latinx community in Chicago’s most heavily industrialized ward.

Dr. Nyenhuis partnered with two non-profit organizations for her project; Mobile Care Chicago (MCC), which provides asthma care via medical vans to children who cannot access specialty care, and the Southeast Environmental Task Force (SETF), a community-based environmental justice group.

Dr. Nyenhuis’ aim for the project was to recruit patients from MCC for an observational study measuring patient symptoms. Simultaneously, she worked with SETF to setup PurpleAir sensors, which collect continuous, fine-time resolution data on PM2.5 pollution, both inside and outside the homes of recruited patients.

“So far, we have trained four staff with SETF and MCC, and have recruited 14 children with asthma in a one-month air quality program,” said Dr. Nyenhuis. “Our first round of data collection was completed in November 2025, and we’re currently working on data cleaning and analysis.”

At the end of the study, Dr. Nyenhuis will provide the families with the findings and give suggestions for improving air quality at home. In the spring of 2026 SETF will host a community event to disseminate the findings and begin developing solutions the entire community can implement based on the results.

For the next phase of the project, the observational study will be repeated in the springtime to see the impact the different seasons have on indoor and outdoor air quality. Dr. Nyenhuis and her team hope to disseminate their findings at the 2027 AAAAI Annual Meeting.

Alysa G. Ellis, MD, FAAAAI

Alysa G. Ellis, MD, FAAAAI, also reported early progress on her project, The Healthy Kids Express Asthma Program (HKEA), which is focused on improving the asthma programs at schools in the St. Louis, Missouri area with high asthma prevalence and high poverty rates. With the AAAAI Environmental Health Equity Grant, she has chosen two of the schools in the program to receive more environmental health interventions to improve asthma care.

“Over the summer of 2025, I met with school administrators and school nurses who were very excited to partner with St. Louis Children’s Hospital to help improve their asthma programs,” Dr. Ellis said. “From there, work began to make a difference in the 2025-2026 school year.”

Students are recruited to HKEA from their school nurses and from information sent to families from the participating schools. There are over 100 students participating in HKEA at the two schools chosen for the grant. Over the fall Dr. Ellis conducted two focus groups; one including parents of participants in the program, and the other a group of teachers from the schools. “During the asthma focus groups we discussed participants’ baseline knowledge in controlling asthma in various environmental conditions, symptom triggers, air quality and school policies,” she said. “We also discussed suggestions for improving asthma care in these schools for the future.”

Both schools have also now started displaying colored flags based on the day’s air quality, allowing anyone at the school to make environmental adjustments and mitigate the impact of poor air quality for students with asthma. This information is also visible for students and parents so they can make changes at home, too.

The next step of this project is to perform environmental skin testing on HKEA participants at two elementary schools at the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year. Those participants will receive information on their allergic triggers and suggestions for improving their home environment to help maintain improved asthma control.

Jessica L. Stern, MD

For Jessica L. Stern, MD, the 2025 AAAAI Environmental Health Equity Research Award allowed her to add an environmental justice lens to a previously awarded grant, focusing on using implementation science to adapt a community health worker (CHW) program for asthma care for the Rochester, NY community.

For this project, Dr. Stern has partnered with the Community Health Workers Association of Rochester, which is focused on the professional development of CHWs, and Rochester Energy Efficiency and Weatherization (RENEW), which focuses on energy safety and efficiency.

“So far we have made significant progress towards our first aim of adapting a CHW model centered on self-management support, environmental justice and structural housing repair/assistance for children and families with asthma in the Rochester community using evidence-based intervention mapping,” Dr. Stern said. “Meanwhile, we are working with RENEW to identify contractors for home remediation projects for the model adaptation.”

For this project, Dr. Stern has engaged with a number of community partners, including a Youth Advisory Board meeting, to elicit feedback to help shape the adapted model to ensure it meets the needs of the community members.

Dr. Stern will launch a pilot study based on their model and is also working with regional and state asthma leaders to ensure that this project aligns with broader asthma initiatives to inform sustainability.