Inquiryresearch

The science behind everyday exposures in our environment

We explore biomedical science within the context of everyday living

1 Surveying the Literature

Assess the known: Understand the state of scientific evidence surrounding food, water, consumer products, and the built environment

Determine the unknown: Find gaps in the data surrounding food, water, consumer products, and the built environment

Explore the possibilities: Formulate questions about the unknown and execute studies to find answers

Method Development and Biomedical Research

Advancing Complexity Science Methods: Creating tests and processes used to include every aspect of daily living into biomedical studies

Evidence Generation: Explore the unknowns in health related to lived experiences (food, water, consumer products, built environment)

Make the Unknowns Known: Share emerging evidence about how our lived-environment impacts health in popular news and information publications and academic periodicals

2 Community Education and Engagement

Ask a Scientist: Casual conversations between scientists and community members to discuss health and science questions

Solution Sessions: Public forums to share data, explore implications, and brainstorm solutions, centering voices that are uncommonly included in biomedical research

Community Research Fellowships: Annual opportunity for community members to train in laboratory and data research

3 people-inspired biomedical research organization

Inquiry Research Institute (IRI) is a consumer- and people-inspired biomedical research organization. At IRI, we seek to understand the science behind every day (bio)chemical exposures in our lived environment. Our objective is to generate data that unearths the health impacts related to consumer products (food, beauty, home), the lived environment (soil, air, building materials), and societal practices (e.g. segregation). The end goal is a people-centered, data-driven approach to understanding how modifiable environmental, lifestyle, and consumer choices impact health and disease.

The mission and goals of our organization

Our Approach

The center seeks to develop and utilize a “systems of systems” approach, which requires that exposures be investigated within and without the social context of each exposure. The research center will engage citizens in the formulation and investigation of research questions.

Ashley Oyirifi

As a human, she’s had a life-long passion for science, people, and the environment. This passion and curiosity prompted her to study biochemistry at the University of Missouri (Mizzou) and ultimately complete a laboratory based PhD at the University of Illinois (UofI).