Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Coordinating Center

Child health is determined by multiple environmental forces; however, surprisingly little is known about how those interact. In addition, despite an emerging consensus that numerous gene-environment interactions determine child health, much remains unknown about how genetic and environmental factors combine to promote or prevent adverse outcomes. This Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Coordinating Center (CC) proposal seeks to increase the body of knowledge about these complicated effects by fostering collaboration among internal and external partners and supporting ECHO Program research to enhance the health of children for generations to come. The Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) is uniquely positioned to serve as the ECHO CC after serving in that role since 2016. DCRI also manages >30 active network and administrative coordinating centers and is a leader in pediatric research. Unique features of the proposed ECHO CC include: 1) extensive experience and the leadership team’s record supporting the ECHO Program and conducting multiple pediatric studies; 2) DCRI’s pediatric operational expertise; and 3) existing, robust administrative infrastructure to effectively and efficiently manage responsibilities for coordinating the ECHO Program’s ambitious efforts. Drs. P. Brian Smith and Linda Adair lead the team. Dr. Smith is a neonatologist, accomplished pediatric researcher, and leader of networks. He served as ECHO CC PI since its inception. Dr. Adair is internationally renowned for leadership of long-term pediatric cohort studies. Dr. Adair has been instrumental in multiple leadership roles in the ECHO Program over the last six years including oversight of the ECHO Opportunities and Infrastructure Fund (OIF), and roles in protocol development and implementation, training, and publications. The specific aims for the ECHO CC are to: 1) provide organizational infrastructure to coordinate and oversee ECHO Program's research activities; 2) support ECHO Cohort Committees and communication among all ECHO Components and partners; 3) manage the ECHO OIF and foster training of a cohort of early investigators through a comprehensive research environment. The ECHO CC will establish and oversee the infrastructure to coordinate the multiple levels of ECHO Program membership. This infrastructure will focus on methods of learning valuable information about environmental exposures through aggregation of data from ECHO Cohort Study Sites. The ECHO CC will make scientific efforts faster and more efficient while protecting human subjects. This infrastructure is possible because of the expertise of DCRI, which has extensive experience in coordinating pediatric studies and has the essential platforms ready.