The Administrative Core will coordinate integration of Southern California Children's Environmental Health Center {SC-CEHC) research, the career development program, and community engagement. Scientific projects span animal biological research, exposure assessment, epidemiology, clinical and mechanistic investigation ofthe impact of air pollution on adipose tissue, obesity, and metabolic dysregulation. The Core will be led by Center Director Dr. Rob McConnell and Deputy Director Dr. Michael Goran. Their complementary strengths in air pollution and obesity research will promote interdisciplinary interaction. The Core will help investigators capitalize on the multiple disciplines to develop and implement the best research approaches and provide dissemination of findings to a broad population. Dissemination mechanisms will include research meetings, seminars, community engagement, and collaboration with the Community Outreach and Translation Core {COTC) in developing a website and newsletter for stakeholders and in assisting with planning for conferences/workshops/meetings. An Executive Committee of SC-CEHC leadership will review progress monthly and an annual External Advisory Committee meeting will provide advice and evaluation. The Pediatric Health Specialist, Dr. Steven Mittelman, is a pediatric endocrinologist and MD-scientist from Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) and an experienced investigator conducting cutting-edge research; he is also a co-investigator in Projects 2 and 3. He will play a key role assisting investigators across all projects in the interpretation of research results, and in community engagement of clinicians. An innovative Career Development Program will leverage a complementary investment ofthe Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center {SCEHSC) to provide opportunities for the Faculty Development Investigator, Dr. Mohammed Salam, to develop new skills relevant to the Center's theme. Dr. Salam is also a co-investigator in Project 1. A key task of the Core leadership and staff will be responsibility for fiscal management/reporting and for coordinating interactions and reports with NIEHS/EPA. Core staff will manage all aspects of the budget and assist with purchasing and reimbursement. An important role for the Core will be to leverage the intellectual resources at USC (the NIEHS Core Center - SCEHSC; the Southern California Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute - SC-CTSi; the Children's Obesity Research Center - CORC, directed by Dr. Goran, and the university-wide Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute - DORI, newly established with a $3 million dollar gift to the medical school. These resources offer services that will provide opportunities for developing jointly sponsored events to promote new and better approaches for understanding the environmental contributions to childhood obesity and metabolic disease across the life span. The roles of SC-CEHC investigators will help to identify the most promising opportunities promoting the development of innovative research collaborations that will advance environmental health science. The SC-CEHC represents the maturation of seven years of research collaboration between environmental health and childhood obesity/metabolic disease investigators. The Figure shows the interrelationships of projects and cores that will be guided by the Administrative Core. The Pediatric Health Specialist will ensure that the projects will have relevance for the clinical and public health communities; the Center Director and Deputy Director will ensure progress in meeting the overall aims through the Core.
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