Center of Excellence in Environmental Technology (CEET)

What is being done to further the prevention, diagnoses and treatment of mesothelioma and other diseases that are caused by environmental toxins such as asbestos? Different organizations around the country are doing their part to aid in the research necessary to minimize the effects of mesothelioma and other dangerous diseases.

Some of these groups such as the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School are funded, in part, with grants from the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences. CEET is one of 22 environmental health centers in the United States. The environmental health centers were created to build infrastructure and provide resources so that important gains could be made in diseases that are caused by environmental toxins.

The specific purpose of CEET is to understand the link between environmental exposures and the diseases they cause. It is thought that understanding that link will help with the prevention, diagnoses, and treatment of environmentally caused diseases.

CEET has several different research cores including one in lung and airway disease. The lung and airway disease core includes the study of asthma, lung cancer, mesothelioma, and other diseases. Mesothelioma, for example, is a serious and aggressive form of cancer that is most often caused by exposure to asbestos in the workplace. CEET investigators take their work wherever they might find the answers to their questions, including to patients suffering from the disease and to superfund sites.

Another important aspect of CEET is its commitment to sharing the knowledge gained from its research both with those in the medical community and those in the broader community. This commitment to shared knowledge is important and is the only way that the research will have the intended result of preventing environmental diseases and easing the impact causes by illnesses that do occur.