Leading the research team for a $2.1 million study of asthma in Louisiana children is Maureen Lichtveld, chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences in the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano)

Tulane University and the New Orleans Department of Health will jointly lead a 30-month study called HEAL: Head-off Environmental Asthma in Louisiana. The purpose of the study is to learn more about the effects of mold and other indoor allergens on children with asthma in post-Katrina New Orleans. Tulane will receive $2.1 million to conduct the study.

"Asthma rates have been on the increase nationally, especially among minority inner-city children, where nearly one in four children have asthma," according to Maureen Lichtveld, principal investigator of the study and chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences of the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. "Post-Katrina New Orleans provides a unique opportunity to study the impact of molds and other allergens on children now living in homes that were saturated by floodwaters."

The researchers want to find out if children are allergic to mold and allergens and what levels of mold and allergens they are exposed to at home. The research team will recruit more than 400 children ages 4 through 12 with the assistance of New Orleans-area schools and clinics.

Working with the children and their families, asthma counselors will use information from each family's home environment and will tailor a plan to improve each child's health. The researchers will explore the impact of various intervention strategies on children's asthma symptoms. Other members of the Tulane research team are LuAnn White, professor of environmental health sciences; Jane El Dahr, professor of clinical pediatrics and clinical professor of medicine; Faye Grimsley, assistant professor of environmental health sciences; and Amy Lafreniere, research assistant professor of environmental health sciences.

The HEAL study is funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences through a partnership established by the Foundation of the National Institutes of Health with the Merck Childhood Asthma Network. The National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities also is supporting the study.

The partners of this collaborative study are: Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans Department of Health, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Tulane/LSU General Clinical Research Center, Rho, Inc., Constella Group, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities, the Merck Childhood Asthma Network, and the Foundation of the National Institutes of Health.

For more information about the study call 1-988-HEAL (4325).