Formative Center for the Evaluation of Environmental Impacts on Fetal Development

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Description (provided by applicant): The primary objective of the Administrative Core is to promote, organize and facilitate the interdisciplinary research and core activities of the Formative Center. The Program Director/Principal Investigator will provide leadership, supervision and organizational control in a manner that best utilizes the team's talents and skills towards four programmatic objectives: 1) provide leadership and innovation in basic and clinical research that furthers our understanding of environmental stressors and their impact on fetal development, 2) expand interdisciplinary research that broadens our understanding of the health risks associated with developmental exposures and the underlying molecular mechanisms associated with disease, 3) build bridges across fields and create new interdisciplinary research, training, and mentoring opportunities, and 4) effectively communicate the potential health hazards and translate the basic research findings for the benefit of public health. The Administrative Core will function as the hub of the program by developing the organizational structure and creating mechanisms for communication among the members of the Formative Center, with clinicians, with researchers, with the public, with NIEHS staff, and with other Children's Environmental Health Centers and Formative Centers. Responsible fiscal and resource management will be the primary responsibility of the Principal Investigator, aided by the Program Manager. The Administrative Core will pursue these Specific Aims: Specific Aim 1: Provide, support and develop processes that sustain and accommodate the growth of interdisciplinary basic and applied research and training. Specific Aim 2: Maintain a communication structure that strengthens team building and facilitates the dissemination of information. Specific Aim 3: Implement mechanisms that will optimally promote the program's objectives and ensure the best and most responsible use of the available resources. Public Health Relevance: The over-arching goal of this Formative Center is to develop novel biomarkers for the adverse effects of environmental exposures that impact fetal development and produce childhood and adult disease. Using an interdisciplinary approach, research, educational, and training interventions will be designed to address the concerns that pregnant women, families, and communities have about environmental chemicals and the health of their developing children.