Lanza selected as 2024 SUHI Equity Research Fellow

Kevin Lanza, PhD, assistant professor at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health in Austin, has been selected as a Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI) Equity Research Fellow for 2024. SUHI's fellowship program was designed to conduct health equity research while strengthening ties with scientists who share this focus. 
 
In his research, Lanza explores the relationship between the environment, health, and well-being through a social equity lens. He has published several papers that focus on the impact of extreme heat on physical activity levels and everyday activities of children and other vulnerable populations in Texas. In partnership with community members, Lanza designs interventions with the aim of eliminating health inequities based on race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status in the face of climate change.  
 
The fellowship program annually selects one to two faculty nationwide with expertise in topics including maternal and child health, behavioral health, mental health, neighborhood-level determinants of health, workforce development, gun violence and trauma, and health economics. 
 
Lanza plans to leverage this program to advance health equity through his research.  
 
"As a Fellow, I plan to partner with SUHI to measure the neighborhood social environment, evaluate volunteering as a health intervention, and better understand societal vulnerability to extreme heat,” said Lanza. “Findings from these studies have the potential to address health inequities in Chicago and beyond." 
 
Before joining the faculty at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health , Lanza was a research fellow at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, received his PhD in City & Regional Planning from Georgia Institute of Technology, and completed his postdoctoral training at the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health.  
 
Lanza's research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and City of Austin. At the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, he currently serves on the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee and the Climate Change Subcommittee of the Board of Scientific Counselors.