The overall goals of the University of Cincinnati (UC) Center for Environmental Genetics (CEG) Community Outreach and Engagement Core (COEC) are to 1) effectively translate Environmental Health Science (EHS) from the CEG into practical health promotion, disease prevention information, tools and resources, 2) foster multidirectional partnerships among CEG scientists and our target audiences, and 3) encourage CEG research that is responsible to the needs of our Stakeholder Advisory Board (SAB). Our target audiences are community members, public health decision-makers, and health care professionals (Figure 1). We are particularly interested in engaging susceptible populations, including minority and underserved communities that are disproportionately affected by environmental contaminants and exposures. Our COEC has been at the forefront of EHS forming multidimensional, academic-community partnerships to address community-identified issues related to airborne exposure to manganese and other metals (Haynes et al 2010), slurries of chemicals from the world's largest hazardous waste incinerator, and hydraulic fracturing. We have also provided outreach to physicians and health care professionals through workshops, seminars, and development of online educational modules for Continuing Medical Education (CME) and Continuing Nursing Education (CNE). The COEC is also innovatively applying community-based participatory research in the transdisciplinary classroom by developing cross-training opportunities for students in journalism, environmental health science, and technical writing. Our COEC is umbrellaed by the SAB as the SAB is comprised of members of our target audiences connecting the COEC to the needs of the community. The SAB offers insight and direction into all COEC activities and influences CEG science directions, leading to effective science translation for stakeholders. Over the next five years, the COEC will continue these existing partnerships, develop new community networks in response to emergent environmental health issues, and continue building expertise in EHS translation and engagement of CEG scientists in these EHS issues identified by our vast environmental organization networks and SAB.
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