weSEE Cohort for Exposome Research

The weSEE Cohort, developed by principal investigator H. Dean Hosgood, professor in the Einstein Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, and colleagues, aims to accelerate human exposome research by providing investigators access to research-level cohorts (epidemiological and clinical) that include individual-level exposures and health data and to recruit participants into observational and interventional studies.

Human health is continuously influenced by exogenous factors, external influences that impact human behavior and health outcomes. In urban areas, where approximately 85% of Americans live, these factors collectively comprise the urban exposome: the complex interplay between built, social, physiochemical, food, and lifestyle-driven exposures. Exposome research seeks to comprehensively describe these exposures to understand what, how, in which quantities, and in what circumstances exogenous factors impact health.

Exposures related to both environmental and social needs distinctly contribute to short- and long-term wellbeing at the individual and neighborhood levels. To date, however, most studies have lacked sufficient power to disentangle the individual and combinatorial associations between the exposome and health outcomes.

To overcome these barriers, Dr. Hosgood and colleagues developed the weSEE Cohort, linking health-related data and expertly curated exposure data for individual patients. The name “weSEE” (whole exposome: social needs, environmental exposures, and electronic health data) signifies our strong commitment to community partnerships (we) in developing a deep and shared understanding of the health challenges our community members face (SEE).

weSEE enables rapid exploration of research questions related to disease–exposure relationships, including co-exposures in sufficiently powered cohorts. Although weSEE is ultimately exposure- and disease-agnostic, and the number of attributes curated in the exposome is continually evolving, Dr. Hosgood and colleagues currently focus on the five a priori community advisory board-identified exposures—air pollution, climate, housing insecurity, housing quality, food insecurity—along with cancer outcomes.