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The new Philadelphia Regional Center for Children's Environmental Health will address environmental health hazards facing children in the region's most vulnerable communities.
mccannn [at] chop.edu (By Nancy McCann)
Children living in Philadelphia, the poorest large city in the country, face a number of environmental threats to their health every day — from lead poisoning and air pollution to exposure to asbestos and endocrine disrupting chemicals, the compounds found in household products and the environment that have been linked to preterm birth, obesity, diabetes, and neurodevelopmental disorders.
In an energized effort to address these hazards and identify and protect the children who live in the region's most vulnerable communities, researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are joining forces by integrating their expertise in the new Philadelphia Regional Center for Children's Environmental Health (PRCCEH). With funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences — a first for the region — the Center is one of six locations nationwide contending with the concerns of children's environmental health.
Rebecca Simmons, MD
Leading the charge are the new Center's Director Rebecca Simmons, MD, professor of Pediatrics and a CHOP neonatologist; Co-Director Aimin Chen, MD, PhD, professor of Epidemiology at Penn; Deputy Director Marilyn Howarth, MD, director of community engagement at Penn's Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology; and Translation Core Co-Director Tyra Bryant-Stephens, MD, senior director of CHOP's Center for Health Equity.
They aim to increase awareness by disseminating children's environmental health knowledge to healthcare providers, community members, and policy makers. The team, which includes colleagues from Drexel University, Temple University, Thomas Jefferson University, Lehigh University, Franklin & Marshall College, Villanova University, and University of Delaware, will develop, test, and implement new programs, as well as engage researchers and community partners to make policy, practice, and behavioral changes to reduce environmental exposures in early life.
"The disparities in environmental justice are profound in Philadelphia," Dr. Simmons said. "This Center will build on years of extensive research in environmental toxicology and pediatric health at both Penn and CHOP to make real, positive change in the lives of children throughout the region. We already have many established connections within communities throughout Philadelphia, Delaware, and other counties, and this grant will allow us to strengthen and expand on those partnerships."
With the goal of improving children's health by reducing environmental exposures in early life, the Center will focus on four areas of research that are considered the biggest targets and environmental exposure load in the Philadelphia region, in order to translate the science into prevention measures.
"We have a responsibility to try to minimize exposure because we now know through our research that these effects not only affect the offspring, but they also affect the second generation," Dr. Simmons said. "This has profound implications for children's health as well as future generations."
Other CHOP doctors involved with the Center include Lisa Biggs, MD; Kevin Osterhoudt, MD, MSCE; Kathryn Hamilton, PhD; Sharon McGrath-Morrow, MD, MBA; Scott Lorch, MD, MSCE; Jessica Rice, DO, MHS; and Todd Kilbaugh, MD.