Cristina Davis Among Researchers Leading New Firefighter Cancer Prevention Projects
The University of California has awarded nearly $6 million in state funding to advance research aimed at reducing cancer and cancer risk among firefighters. Grants were awarded to eight research teams, including one co-led by University of California, Davis, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Cristina Davis.
The grants were awarded through the California Firefighter Cancer Prevention and Research Program, established in 2023 by the state legislature.
The program is administered by the University of California, which works closely with the state interagency firefighting advisory program, FIRESCOPE, to ensure funded projects address the highest priority research. California firefighters and fire service organizations will participate in the research, taking an active role in helping scientists unravel why cancer rates are so high among their ranks — and helping to design possible solutions.
"Each funded project is co-led by a UC researcher and a California firefighter, ensuring that research is asking the most vital questions to firefighter health and that the results of the research make it back to the firefighter community as soon as possible," said Theresa Maldonado, vice president of research and innovation at the University of California.
Davis will work with co-principal investigator Ryan Tripp, a fire captain with the Los Angeles County Fire Department on a project titled "Individualized exposure assessment of firefighters to airborne carcinogens."
Building on an existing collaboration to develop air sampling tools firefighters use on calls, their team will now deploy these tools during training exercises on practice fires — which can add to firefighters' chemical exposure — and collect samples of firefighters' exhaled breath, urine and a swab of their skin. This will enable the researchers to pinpoint which trainings caused chemical exposure and change these activities to reduce the risk. Then they will educate other firefighters across California on how to make training safer.
