The overarching goal of the Administrative Core of the MADRES Center for Environmental Health Disparities is to ensure multidisciplinary interactions among clinical, social and public health scientists and community engagement experts to enhance a world-class research and outreach program in environmental health disparities. The Administrative Core will provide an efficient infrastructure for coordinating and facilitating activities across the Center and will promote scientific integration and community engagement. The Administrative Core will establish an Executive Committee of project and core leaders to foster scientific interaction and coordinate internal/external activities and to explore greater opportunities for scientific interaction across the two projects, the facility cores and th Community Engagement Core. It will also establish an External Advisory Committee to annually review MADRES Center projects and cores and provide evaluation and advice on research progress. Specifically, the Administrative Core will facilitate scientific synergy within and outsde the MADRES Center; provide access to a rich institutional scientific environment; assist with the translation and application of research findings and community engagement activities; provide fiscal management oversight and reporting; foster the career development of junior investigators into independent contributors to environmental health disparities research; and make important contributions to national networks that foster communication, innovation, and research excellence in the area of environmental health disparities.
OVERALL CENTER NARRATIVE The Hispanic population in California not only has one of the highest rates of obesity but also a disproportionate environmental exposure burden, highlighting a striking environmental and health disparity that is not well understood. The Maternal And Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors (MADRES) Center for Environmental Health Disparities will focus on understanding causes of childhood obesity and excessive gestational weight gain and postpartum weight retention among minority and low- income children and mothers, respectively, in order to reduce the disproportionate burden of disease born by these individuals. To identify key targets for policy, clinical and programmatic intervention, the proposed MADRES Center will examine whether pre- and postnatal/postpartum environmental exposures, coupled with exposures to psychosocial and built environment stressors, lead to excessive gestational weight gain and postpartum weight retention in women and to perturbed infant growth trajectories and increased childhood obesity risk through altered psychological, behavioral and/or metabolic responses.
| Alderete, T L; Song, A Y; Bastain, T et al. (2018) Prenatal traffic-related air pollution exposures, cord blood adipokines and infant weight. Pediatr Obes 13:348-356 |
| Felix, Janine F; Joubert, Bonnie R; Baccarelli, Andrea A et al. (2018) Cohort Profile: Pregnancy And Childhood Epigenetics (PACE) Consortium. Int J Epidemiol 47:22-23u |
| Alderete, Tanya L; Habre, Rima; Toledo-Corral, Claudia M et al. (2017) Longitudinal Associations Between Ambient Air Pollution With Insulin Sensitivity, ?-Cell Function, and Adiposity in Los Angeles Latino Children. Diabetes 66:1789-1796 |
