April 16, 2025
Seeds of Collaboration
Oasis Farm in Pittsburgh partners with Pitt’s Rust to Resilience Center to study pollutants and work together on environmental health solutions.
TOPICS: Education | Environmental Health | Impact | Life Sciences | Partnerships | School of Medicine | Schools
Designs on Aging-Ready
By Clare Collins, School of Public Health
For the past two years, Oasis Farm, a Black-owned and led urban bio-market garden in Pittsburgh’s Homewood neighborhood, has collaborated with the University of Pittsburgh’s Rust to Resilience (R2R) Environmental Chemical Research Center as both a research partner and community engagement site.
R2R, a collaborative effort involving clinicians, engineers, toxicologists and epidemiologists studying the health effects of metals and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), is led by Alison Sanders, associate professor of environmental and occupational health, associate dean of research at Pitt Public Health, and R2R director.
“We have a legacy of industrial activity in Southwestern Pennsylvania resulting in metals and ‘forever chemicals’ that persist in people, soil and waterways,” explains Sanders. “By working with organizations like Oasis, we’ve been able to create transdisciplinary teams of scientists and community partners to remediate affected areas and work toward meaningful policy changes and disease prevention.”
“By working with organizations like Oasis, we’ve been able to create transdisciplinary teams of scientists and community partners to remediate affected areas and work toward meaningful policy changes and disease prevention.”
Alison Sanders, associate professor of environmental and occupational health and R2R director
Oasis Farm serves as a model for sustainable urban farming, with much of its produce—Afro-Caribbean crops like okra and Lagos spinach—focused on meeting the cultural needs of the surrounding neighborhood. Oasis Farm Manager Ash Chan teaches and applies techniques to equip youths and adults to grow their own produce and use it when they cook.
Similarly, R2R-associated faculty members mentor and train aspiring environmental health professionals, including undergraduate and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers.
David Sanchez, associate professor at Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering and R2R project lead, provides faculty leadership for the University’s aquaponics and hydroponics student clubs, with the latter system housed at Oasis Farm. This system cultivates fish and plants in a symbiotic environment where they mutually benefit from each other’s presence—the fish provide natural fertilizer for the plants, that, in turn, clean and purify water for the fish.
“It’s really important for us to foster an interdisciplinary mindset in environmental health research,” says Sanders. “What I appreciate most about R2R is that we all wear different hats and look at things from different perspectives. It makes finding the best solutions possible—and much more engaging.”
R2R was funded by University of Pittsburgh Momentum Funds.
Co-investigators include more than 30 Pitt researchers from across the Schools of Public Health, Medicine, Computing and Information, the Swanson School of Engineering, and the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.
Community partners include Healthy Start, Oasis Farm, and Women for a Healthy Environment.