Philadelphia Regional Center for Children’s Environmental Health

Philadelphia Regional Center for Children's Environmental Health (PRCCEH) is a new children's center which will provide the infrastructure to integrate CEH research expertise at University of Pennsylvania (Penn) Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM), Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Drexel University, Temple University, Thomas Jefferson University, Lehigh University, Franklin & Marshall College, Villanova University and University of Delaware to improve children's health by reducing environmental exposures in early life across our region. The Center will be led by Directors Rebecca Simmons, M.D., and Aimin Chen, M.D., Ph.D., and Deputy Director Marilyn Howarth, M.D. The mission of the PRCCEH is to disseminate children's environmental health knowledge to health care providers, community members, and policy makers, to develop, test and implement new translational products, and to engage researchers and community partners to make policy, practice, and behavioral changes to reduce environmental exposures in early life. The vision and the mission of the PRCCEH are oriented to the Philadelphia region to address pressing CEH issues. The Center consists of 27 experts in pediatrics, epidemiology, occupational and environmental medicine, toxicology, social ecology, implementation science, community engagement, risk communication, nursing, bioinformatics, and other areas. The Center is comprised of an Administrative Core and Executive Committee, a Development Core, and a Translation Core, and is advised by Internal Advisory Committee and Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee. The Center will focus on four primary research and translation areas: a) Asthma prevention, motivated by disparity of asthma hospitalization in Philadelphia and a Community Asthma Prevention Program (CAPP) with more than 20 years of experience; b) Lead exposure and harm reduction, motivated by a disparity in elevated blood lead levels in children <6 years of age at the population level; c) Air pollution, motivated by high annual particulate matter and ozone pollution in Philadelphia-Reading-Camden Metropolitan Statistical Area (among the 25 worst polluted areas in the U.S.); and d) Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), motivated by increasing disease burden from EDC-related preterm birth, obesity and diabetes, and neurodevelopmental disorders. The Center members are experienced in these translational areas and will achieve the following Specific Aims in the next 5 years. Aim 1. Build the PRCCEH as a regional infrastructure center for CEH research and translation; Aim 2. Expand PRCCEH membership and leverage institutional resources to promote CEH translation; Aim 3. Nurture and mentor early stage investigators (ESI) in CEH research and attract established environmental health (EH) scientists into CEH; Aim 4. Translate CEH research to community members and stakeholders to improve children's health; Aim 5. Establish two pilot programs for CEH translation; Aim 6. Provide efficient administrative services to facilitate research translation.