Louisville is our urban laboratory

Health is more than medicine. 

It is the air we breathe, the neighborhoods we live in, the connections we share and the opportunities we create together.

The Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute is pioneering new ways to understand health in its fullest sense, developing the new science of health and place, with the aim to transform Louisville into a model of what a truly healthy city can be. 

Deciding that Louisville is our urban, living laboratory changes the way our research is conducted — from the design of individual studies to sharing research findings with the larger world. Through people-centered partnerships, we invite individuals, groups, communities, guest researchers, governments, corporations and nonprofits to join us in creating research opportunities and innovation. We are bridging the gap between the creation of new knowledge and sharing that knowledge with our neighbors to improve health in Louisville and in other cities around the world. 

Calling all citizen scientists  

Citizen science is when ordinary people collaborate with scientists and contribute to scientific research by participating in projects that aim to increase our knowledge about the world. Citizen scientists provide data about their everyday experiences so we can begin to understand the connections between people’s health, the environment and the choices we make as individuals and collectively as communities. 

Citizen scientists collaborate with researchers so the communities that are being studied are represented and are knowledgeable about the research being done and the results of that research. Citizen scientists are encouraged to participate in research at all levels, including: 

• being a study participant
• serving on an advisory council
• representing their community in decision-making
• downloading an app to log personal health events or report odors around the city

Citizen scientists advise researchers on the best ways to share new knowledge and provide recommendations to their communities with the goal of catalyzing change to improve the quality of life for their neighbors.