CORE C: RESEARCH EXPERIENCE AND TRAINING COORDINATION CORE PROJECT SUMMARY The Research Experience and Training Coordination Core (RETCC) will harness the resources of both Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University, both outstanding research institutions that have a solid history of training successful scientists and engineers. These institutions have a long history of academic cooperation, along with the other Texas Medical Center institutions, including the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the Baylor-Rice Superfund Research Program (SRP) will provide a unique opportunity to create a new and highly innovative training program within the largest medical center in the world focused specifically on scientific and medical research related to environmental impacts of Superfund sites.. The purpose of the RETCC core is to create a cross-disciplinary training environment and mentorship program to help develop next-generation scientists and engineers to tackle complex environmental health and biomedical science challenges relevant to Superfund-oriented research. This RETCC will leverage the emerging resources in the Texas Medical Center relating to environmental health and science, including the newly established T32 Training in Precision Environmental Health Sciences (TPEHS), a joint initiative between Baylor College of Medicine and University of Texas Health Science Center ? Houston School of Public Health. This SRP will focus on detecting and assessing the effect of maternal polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure on fetal and childhood health and health impacts of potential remediation strategies. The Research Projects encompassed in this SRP will expose trainees to innovative approaches, state-of-the-art technologies, and established investigators/mentors to accomplish hypothesis-driven research and importantly, use their findings to bring about lasting change to communities and Superfund stakeholders.
