Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11 attacks, health officials are still studying the effects of the tragedy, with experts warning that many survivors are excluded from long-term studies.
Doctors, elected officials, and first responders gathered at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai on Sept. 3, 2026, to examine survivors' current health and reflect on the work still needed.
“The World Trade Center Health Program has expanded [our] understanding beyond first responders to include survivors, local workers, students and residents exposed to dust, trauma and disruption,” said Denise Harrison, MD of the World Trade Center Health Program Clinical Center of Excellence at New York University Grossman School of Medicine.
Harrison said her equity-focused approach to public health isn’t only about broadening the scope beyond first responders, but also diversifying studies across groups of survivors.
“Vulnerability and inequality shape outcomes. Not everyone experienced the disaster equally. Access to care, occupational role, socio-economic status, language barriers [all] influence who was exposed and who received follow-up,” she said.
The World Trade Center Health Program’s research shows that disaster impacts don’t end when the event is over, but can last years or even decades.
Harrison said the lack of immediate environmental sampling made it difficult to examine long-term effects.
“Major challenges after 9/11 were reconstructing who was exposed to what, at what level, and for how long. Delays complicate research, compensation, and care,” she said.
Other disasters, such as wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic, further muddled results.
Dementia linked to toxic exposure
Doctors are increasingly focusing on an emerging health issue among 9/11 survivors: early-onset dementia.
“Our responsibility is to recognize cognitive change early, and to identify those of greatest risk before the impairment becomes irreversible,” said Benjamin J. Luft, MD, Medical Director of the World Trade Center Health Program Clinical Center of Excellence at Stony Brook.
Over a ten-year span, Luft observed a rise in cognitive disorders linked to dementia in his patients who were exposed to toxins – at unusually young ages.
“So the actual pattern was different. At that time, as I was talking to my colleagues, I said, ‘Well, you know, this isn't Alzheimer's. This is not an idiopathic dementia. This is a dementia that we're seeing caused by an environmental exposure,’” Luft said.
He said that’s why health care providers should pay attention to cognitive changes even in young patients.
Uptick in claims for compensation
More 9/11 survivors are applying for victim compensation now than just a few years ago – at least two dozen per day, according to Allison Turkel, Special Master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF).
The VCF is the federally funded program that pays survivors who became sick from toxic exposure at the crash sites in New York City, Washington, DC and Shanksville, PA.
Turkel said the fund gets over 800 new applications a month – 200 more than it was receiving in 2023.
“It means that those who worked or went to school in the New York City exposure zone – that's the VCF's exposure zone – are becoming aware of us, or becoming sick,” Turkel said.
The fund paid out almost $2 billion on 9,800 cases last year, according to Turkel.
“The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund has served tens of thousands of victims and their families, and I am, I think as many of you must be, somewhat stunned that there still are so many people who continue to be impacted and continue to become ill,” Turkel told the audience.
To qualify for the fund, survivors must first get their illness certified by the World Trade Center Health Program.
