Health and Extreme Weather Research Briefs
The Natural Hazards Center—with funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation—supports quick response research about the health risks and impacts of extreme weather events—such as wildfires, hurricanes, droughts, floods, extreme heat, tornadoes, and severe storms. Practitioners, policymakers, and the public will find an accessible overview of each funded study's main results and their policy and practice implications in the Health and Extreme Weather Research Briefs below.
Call 2: Health Outcomes and Disaster Research
HEW10 | Mental Health After Hurricane Helene: A Mixed-Methods Study of Volunteers (2026)
Sophie C Ryan, Maggie Sugg, and Jennifer Schroeder Tyson
HEW9 | Longitudinal Evaluation of Wildfire Impacts on an Unhoused Cohort in Los Angeles (2026)
Randall Kuhn, Jessie Chien, Benjamin Henwood, and Evan Shanoon
<ahref="https://hazards.colorado.edu/uploads/quick_report/HEW10_Ryan_Research%20Brief.pdf" target="_blank">View the Research Brief
HEW8 | Health and Evacuation Challenges for Transit Riders During the 2025 Los Angeles Wildfires (2026)
Matthew Palm, Sarah Grajdura, Sarah Dennis-Bauer, Sang-O Kim, Madeline Brozen, Ryan Miller, Tara Goddard, Amy Lee, and Stella Connaughton
HEW7 | Impacts of 2024 Western Pennsylvania Floods on Opioid Use Treatment Clinics (2026)
Virginia G Silvis, Halie Kampman, and Brian King
HEW6 | Exploring the Mental Health Impact of Hurricane Beryl on Racial Minorities in Houston, Texas (2025)
Oluponmile Olonilua and John Ogbeleakhu Aliu
Call 1: Health Outcomes and Disaster Research
HEW5 | Nebraska Tornado Quick Response: Assessing Community Impacts and Evaluating Early Warnings (2025)
Sarah Elizabeth Scales, Christine Allmon, Rachael Birn, Summer Woolsey, Siddhi Munde, and Kristina Kintziger
HEW4 | Wildfire Smoke in Northern California: Family Risk Perceptions and Mental Health Impacts (2025)
Kathleen Lynch, Alexis Merdjanoff, and David Abramson
HEW3 | Mental Health Impacts of the 2024 Ohio Tornadoes on People With Socioeconomic Disadvantages (2025)
Amer Hamad Issa Abukhalaf, Vaishnavi Deepak Chavan, and Harshavardhan Kodela
HEW2 | Assessing Health and Environmental Impacts of 2023 Maui Wildfires on Asian Americans (2025)
Shinwoo Choi and Yong Je Kim
HEW1 | Transportation as a Social Determinant of Health During Hurricane Idalia (2024)
Xiang Yan, Sara Garces, Shih-Kai Huang, Katelyn Sowell, Catherine Campbell, Shangkun Jiang, Eliana Duarte, and Xilei Zhao
Questions?
Please contact the Natural Hazards Center at haz.research.awards@colorado.edu.
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