Translation Core

TRANSLATIONAL CORE - ABSTRACT The Translational Core (TC) will be the primary focus of the Center and support scientists, community members, and healthcare providers in generating and disseminating critical research findings in children's environmental health to raise awareness of exposure risks and encourage meaningful actions for risk mitigation, equitably across communities. The TC addresses the historical challenges of bridging the gap of the generation of new scientific knowledge into high-impact messages that promote and sustain long-lasting change among individuals, families, healthcare providers. Building on the scientific knowledge being generated by Emory researchers specifically on the environmental health issues of inner city AA families and young children, the TC will focus on accelerating the translation of these findings to public health and clinical practice with a primary focus on underserved communities in the Atlanta area who may be inadvertently subject to environmental injustice. To maximize the public health impact of our translational efforts, the TC will 1) leverage the storytelling power of virtual reality (VR), 2) harness the ability of communication platforms to socially connect users across physical distances, and 3) design messages with environmental health literacy practices in mind so that the communication is clearly understandable and accessible to target audiences. This effort will be led by Dr. Sun Joo Ahn, TC Lead and director of the Games and Virtual Environments Lab at the University of Georgia, where she specializes in designing and evaluating interactive media messages to promote health behaviors. She will be joined by Dr. Ruth Parker, a leading national expert on research, education, and policy efforts to advance our nation's health literacy. The TC will be advised by the Community Cabinet of the Administrative Core, including Dr. Na'Taki Osborne Jelks of Spelman University, a nationally- recognized leader in engaging urban communities and youth in environmental stewardship. This translational team will also collaborate with the Region 4 Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units and the substantial engagement with Atlanta communities and health providers to further the aims of this core. With this expertise in environmental health, communication science, health literacy, and community engagement, the TC will work closely with CEH researchers to develop innovative and efficacious communication strategies to support and expand the capacity of individuals and communities to apply critical CEH findings in their lives.