About Us

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil rig exploded releasing an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, reaching more than 950 miles of the Gulf Coast shoreline in Florida, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas. More than a year later, critical questions remain about the health impact of the oil spill on individuals and communities along the Gulf Coast. Since the DWH oil disaster, many public and privately funded research projects were initiated to address three important questions:

  1. How did the events during and after the disaster impact individuals and communities along the Gulf of Mexico?
  2. Are there ongoing or long term impacts of the DWH oil disaster to the people and communities in this region?
  3. How can we help to prepare individuals and communities to better withstand negative impacts from future natural or human initiated environmental disasters?

Deepwater Horizon Research Consortium FAQs.  Why Are There So Many Studies in the GULF?

To address these concerns, as part of the “Gulf Oil Spill Response Efforts” initiative, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), one of 27 research institutes and centers that comprise the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is currently leading “a trans-NIH effort to create a network of community and university partnerships that seeks to identify personal and community health effects stemming from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and to enhance community resiliency to potential disasters” (NIEHS, 2011). The University of Florida (UF) is the lead institution for our consortium team; our academic partners include the University of Maryland (UMD), the University of West Florida (UWF) and the University of South Alabama (USA) . We are one of a four university consortia that make up an NIH initiative focused on “Gulf Oil Spill Response Efforts,” specifically the “Deepwater Horizon Research Consortia” led by NIEHS.

The Four Academic institutions that make up the “Deepwater Horizon Research Consortia: Health Impacts and Community Resiliency”,  Sponsored by the NIH/NIEHS are:

  • Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans – The Women And Their Children’s Gulf Health Consortium (WATCH)
  • Tulane University – Trans-disciplinary Research Consortium for Gulf Resilience on Women’s Health (GROWH)
  • The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston – Gulf Coast Health Alliance: Health Risks Related to the Macondo Spill (GC-HARMS)
  • University of Florida – Healthy Gulf, Healthy Communities (HGHC): Health Impact of Deepwater Horizon Spill in Eastern Gulf Coast Communities

University of Florida – Healthy Gulf, Healthy Communities: Health Impact of Deepwater Horizon Spill in Eastern Gulf Coast Communities team, is focusing on three main areas, including seafood safety, individual and community resiliency, and community based social marketing.  Specific objectives are as follows:

To find out if the oil spill is affecting your state of mind and your mental health in the months after the spill.

To find out what has helped you cope after the oil spill To find out how the community is coping and who is most affected by the oil spill.

To find out if the chemicals from the oil spill are in the air, water and the seafood in your region.

To keep talking to the community and to let people in the community know what we are finding out in our study.

It is our hope that these research findings can assist with the recovery process and help people in the community cope with any future environmental disasters.

A key element of our consortia and our community outreach effort is the participatory approach we are taking. This includes working with individuals and community based organizations to help us develop and design information messages that come from our research activities. It is our hope that these research findings can assist with the recovery process and serve as a model for community recovery in the event of future environmental disasters.

Our team of researchers, which include scientists from the University of Florida, the University of Maryland, the University of West Florida and the University of Alabama will be contacting individuals, and local community and faith based organizations, to help us by providing information, samples of local seafood catches, and/or participating in outreach activities. Given the concerns for your health and well‐being, and the important knowledge you have about the spill impacts, you may be contacted for participation in more than one study.  In addition to our consortium-based community interactions, you may be contacted by other research teams from the NIH GuLF Study (if you were an oil spill worker or helped with the clean‐up efforts), or one of the other academic consortia.  We very much appreciate both your concerns and valuable time in assisting with these important studies.  Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any question or need further information.

NIEHS is both the sponsor of the  “Deepwater Horizon Disaster Research Consortia” AND the lead agency in the “Gulf Long-Term Follow-Up Study (GuLF Study) for Oil Spill Clean-Up Workers and Volunteers”, which are separate initiatives under “Gulf Oil Spill Response Efforts” (NIEHS, 2011).

The GuLF STUDY is solely focused on assessing short and long term health effects on oil spill workers and volunteers involved in the DWH cleanup. The NIEHS investigators leading this study are recruiting individuals, who were involved with the oil spill clean-up, took training, signed up to work, volunteered or were sent to the Gulf to help in some way after the Deepwater Horizon disaster.