Grant Number:	5U2RTW012239-05 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator:	Gray, Gregory
Organization:	University Of Texas Med Br Galveston
Project Title:	2/2 - Mongolian Center for Environmental & Occupational Health - U.S.
Fiscal Year:	2026

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT This proposal builds upon more than 18 years of US-Mongolian research collaborations. The program, now in its 4th of 5 years, is benefiting the health of Americans in two main ways. First, Mongolian cities have the world’s highest air pollution levels and very high respiratory disease morbidity rates. Hence, Mongolia is among the best places in the world to study these two problems. Mongolia is also unique in that we are able to prospectively study large samples of people living in two such polluted areas. Our findings could improve the health of millions of Americans who live in polluted US cities or who experience wildfire smoke exposures. Second, training Mongolians to conduct this research is building Mongolian’s in-country research capacity which will benefit future US-Mongolian research collaborations. Our interdisciplinary US and Mongolian research team has developed a prospective population-based study of these problems and is in its 4th year of conducting research and training the next generation of Mongolian scientists to perform in environmental and human health research. The goal of this Center is to develop independent, interdisciplinary, environmental and occupational health researchers. This U2R proposal outlines the training components of the Center. The twin U01 proposal outline the research components of the Center. Regarding U2R training, through a national search and a competitive process, we are screening five well-qualified Mongolian candidates for fellowship training each year. Fellows must have appropriate previous training at the at least the bachelor's degree level, must be committed to careers in research, and must be available full-time for the up to 15 months of financially supported training. The Administrative Oversight Committee works with each Fellow in identifying US and Mongolian Program Faculty members who guides the Fellow in conducts interdisciplinary research that is closely tied to U01 research. After preliminary online trainings are completed and visas are obtained, each Fellow travels to their US faculty mentor’s laboratory at University of Texas Medical Branch or Duke University for three months of research training tailored for their project. After this training is complete the Fellows return to Mongolia and spend up to the next 12 months conducting their research project in Mongolia. In a capstone experience Fellows present their research to the External Advisory Committee at the Annual Mongolian GEOHealth Hub Review. Afterwards they return to their former employment but continue to work with their Program Faculty mentors in publishing their work in international journals and in influencing Mongolian national health policy. During the 3 to 15-months of formal training each Fellow gains considerable training in conducting laboratory assays, the responsible conduct of research, research reproducibility, human and animal subjects research ethics, collecting field specimens. data analyses, delivering oral presentations, and in English language scientific writing. Thus far the Mongolian GEOHealth Center has trained 20 young Mongolian scholars.




The Highly Interrelated Morbidity Respiratory Viruses Cause Among Humans and Animals in Mongolia.
Authors: Enkhbat M. , Batzorig U. , Dashdondog N. , Trujillo-Vargas C.M. , Dambadarjaa D. , Gray G.C. .
Source: Viruses, 2025-11-28 00:00:00.0; 17(12), .
EPub date: 2025-11-28 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 41472228
Related Citations

Particulate Matter Exposure and Viral Infections: Relevance to Highly Polluted Settings such as Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Authors: Galsuren J. , Dambadarjaa D. , Tighe R.M. , Gray G.C. , Zhang J. .
Source: Current Environmental Health Reports, 2025-04-23 00:00:00.0; 12(1), p. 22.
EPub date: 2025-04-23 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 40268823
Related Citations

Interactive effects of air pollutants and viral exposure on daily influenza hospital visits in Mongolia.
Authors: Ge Y. , Lin Y. , Tsogtbayar O. , Khuyagaa S.O. , Khurelbaatar E. , Galsuren J. , Prox L. , Zhang S. , Tighe R.M. , Gray G.C. , et al. .
Source: Environmental Research, 2025-03-01 00:00:00.0; 268, p. 120743.
EPub date: 2024-12-31 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 39746628
Related Citations

MAJOR LIVESTOCK-ASSOCIATED ZOONOSES IN MONGOLIA: AN OVERVIEW.
Authors: Tsogtbayar O. , Munkhbayarlakh B. , Dorjsurenkhor N. , Gray G.C. .
Source: Zoonoses (shannon, Ireland), 2025; 5(1), .
EPub date: 2025-07-01 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 41551725
Related Citations