ECHO Steering Committee Support and Communications Component

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Well-designed research is urgently needed to examine the impact of environmental exposures on health outcomes in children. To address these knowledge gaps, the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program promises to leverage extant pediatric cohorts to test new hypotheses of how environmental exposures impact pediatric health. The Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) proposes to serve as the ECHO Coordinating Center (ECHO CC) to provide the organizational framework for the management, direction, and overall coordination of all common ECHO activities. DCRI is uniquely poised to lead this ambitious initiative. As the world’s largest academic research organization, DCRI manages nearly 30 active network and administrative coordinating center grants and has emerged as a leader in pediatric clinical research. In order to coordinate all functions of the ECHO Leadership Team; develop and implement ECHO operating policies and procedures; develop targeted communication strategies for ECHO stakeholders; and develop and maintain the ECHO Web Portal, the DCRI will establish the ECHO CC Steering Committee Support and Communications Component (SC Component). The ECHO SC Component will focus on supporting communication between all ECHO components, investigators, and the public. This will be facilitated by DCRI’s extensive experience leading federally funded coordinating centers including 1) supporting network Steering Committees; 2) developing network policies and procedures; and 3) building Web Portals to serve as the face of the network. To achieve this vision, the SC Component will establish three Teams: 1) The Steering Committee Support Team will support for the integral functions of the ECHO Leadership Team and facilitate communication pathways between the governing committees; 2) The Web Portal Team will create and maintain a robust, versatile, web presence for the ECHO program that will serve as the ECHO program’s “front door” for the wider scientific community, the public and facilitate the complex communication needs for all ECHO Elements; and 3) The Communications Support Team will supporting the day-to-day communication needs of the program and lead the development of a strategic communication work plan for the ECHO Program.