Development Core

SUMMARY – DEVELOPMENT CORE The overall goal of the Development Core DC of the center for Children's Health Assessment, Research Translation, and Combating Environmental Racism (CHARTER) is to provide a comprehensive, integrated program of career development to enhance the path towards independence for early-stage investigators working in the thematic areas of children's environmental health, health disparities, and translation of research affecting Black individuals and their communities. The lack of progress in addressing environmental racism and health disparities can be attributed, in part, to inadequate capacity building in research and translation at the intersection of the fields of environmental and maternal-child health and community advocacy, including limited funding and career development opportunities for junior scientists, particularly those who have been structurally marginalized resulting in their underrepresentation. The Development Core will serve a pivotal role in developing early-stage investigators and promoting research, research capacity building, and translation in the intersection of the fields of children's environmental health, health disparities, and research translation to generate innovative approaches to mitigate environmental health disparities and improve access to healthy environments for Black women, children, and communities. The Development Core will be led by three experienced environmental health researchers with extensive expertise in children's environmental health research, and who will engage with multidisciplinary faculty across Emory University and the University of Georgia to administer a comprehensive program to train and advance the career trajectory of early stage investigators, with a focus on underrepresented minorities. The Development Core will accomplish its mission by (1) organizing and administering a multi-level Pilot Project Program to provide opportunities to support innovative, time-sensitive projects and preliminary data generation opportunities with priority given to early stage investigators, particularly Underrepresented Minorities (URMs), to enhance their research in translational environmental health disparities and children's environmental health research; (2) cultivate a CHARTER Investigator career development program; and (3) provide opportunities for mentoring, research guidance and career development support for early stage investigators and trainees through seminars, workshops, and networking opportunities. By offering innovative program and services, the Development Core of CHARTER, will impact the career trajectories of new and early career researchers, particularly those that have been historically structurally marginalized, fortifying their success in obtaining independent research funding, developing skills to promote career success, and build networks of collaborators and mentors that can assure long-term success in children's environmental health research.