AbstractThe possible causal role of the environment in health disparities is not well understood, even though it has been a national priority for many years. Progress to investigate the relationship between genetics, environmental exposures, and health outcomes has been hampered by the lack of ana-lytical tools to quantify the combined or cumulative effect of multiple chemical and non-chemical stressors on gene expres-sion. The studies cited here provide a strong rationale for using epigenomic analysis to assess cumulative risk frommul-tiple environmental exposures over the life course. The environment-specific Bimprints^on the genome, coupledwith transcriptomics andmetabolomics, can be used to advance our understanding of the relationship between neighborhood dis-advantage and health disparities. Keywords Epigenetics.Epigenome.Genetic.DNA
methylation.Environmental health. Health disparities