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2006 Progress Report: Administrative Core
EPA Grant Number: R832141C008Subproject: this is subproject number 008 , established and managed by the Center Director under grant R832141
(EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
Center: Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health
Center Director: Perera, Frederica P.
Title: Administrative Core
Investigators: Perera, Frederica P.
Institution: Columbia University
EPA Project Officer: Fields, Nigel
Project Period: November 1, 2003 through October 31, 2008
Project Period Covered by this Report: November 1, 2005 through October 31,2006
RFA: Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research (2003)
Research Category: Children's Health , Health Effects
Description:
Objective:The specific aims of the Administrative Core are to: (1) provide overall administration, coordination, and guidance of the activities of the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH, or Center) and provide financial management and oversight for the Center’s cores and projects; (2) facilitate interactions among investigators, external advisors, collaborating research institutes, community-based organizations, government agencies, and other children’s environmental health centers; (3) ensure that the expertise of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and Community Advisory Board (CAB) is used effectively to guide the Center’s activities; (4) ensure that there is active community participation in the Center’s work, that community feedback informs the ongoing research, and that the Center’s expertise is an accessible resource to the community; (5) facilitate communication among research cores and projects, the Community Outreach, Translation, and Application Core and the Community Advisory Board so that scientific findings are translated and broadly disseminated to community members, policymakers, advocacy organizations, clinicians, research centers and professional associations who can use them to improve the environmental health of children; (6) inform the media of the Center’s key research results in coordination with Center investigators and the Department of External Affairs at the Mailman School of Public Health; (7) ensure communication between all investigators involved in the Center’s international research studies in New York City, Poland, and China to discuss scientific methodology, study logistics, progress, research results, and ideas for comparative risks analyses; and (8) develop private foundation support to supplement agency funding and support additional research.
Progress Summary:Administrative Activities
The Administrative Core has provided overall administration and fiscal management of the Center’s research projects and supportive cores, and related activities, over the past year. Staff has scheduled all monthly Center staff and Executive Committee meetings of co-investigators, weekly Core and Project meetings, and its own weekly administrative and financial oversight meetings with the Center’s Director. Staff has assisted with followup after meetings, planning additional meetings for further discussion, and/or helping to implement new procedures. Staff has also assisted investigators in preparing grant applications to federal agencies and private foundations, assisted in drafting progress reports to funders, and helped to draft documents for Institutional Review Board applications in order to incorporate new research components into the Center’s main prospective cohort study. Fiscal administration of all Center activities is a primary role of support staff in this core. Financial personnel have continued this year to oversee all budgets for the Center’s eight research projects and support cores that are part of the New York City Mothers and Children Study, coordinate with external collaborating institutions to maintain subcontracts, and oversee all budgetary aspects of the Center’s day-to-day functioning. As Core investigators direct the Center, they have overseen all Center personnel and monitored data collection. The Center’s Annual Advisory Board meeting is scheduled for October 5, 2006, at the end of this third year of renewed funding. The meeting will be attended by the Center’s principal investigators, co-investigators, research staff, SAB, and CAB.
Facilitating Communication
Core staff record and circulate meeting minutes, notifying investigators of relevant information from other cores and projects, and circulating research hypotheses, requests for data, and manuscript drafts to investigators and advisors for comment. Staff works closely with both internal investigators and external advisors so that all parties remain updated on current work. This function continues to help facilitate the exchange of information between groups of investigators.
Maximizing Advisors’ Input
As in past years, the Center’s SAB and CAB will attend the CCCEH Annual Advisory Board meeting. Center investigators will present their work and latest findings, focusing on particular issues on which they would like to elicit advisors’ feedback. During the year, staff has contacted several advisors on an individual basis to enlist their expertise in response to specific matters. CAB members have a standing invitation to attend monthly Executive Committee meetings at which the Center’s scientific research is discussed in detail, including analytic approaches and latest findings.
Ensuring Active Community Participation
Staff members work closely with the Center’s CAB, helping to schedule meetings and administer the Healthy Home Healthy Child (HHHC) community education campaign. Core staff continues to help the Community Translation and Application Core (COTAC) project with administrative aspects of producing newsletters for cohort participants and annual reports to local community residents.
Translation and Dissemination
Center researchers continued this year to present their work and results to community residents and organizations. CAB member organizations are instrumental in linking investigators with community health fairs and conferences, as well as more specialized groups working at a policy level to improve the environmental health status of Northern Manhattan and South Bronx neighborhoods. Staff scheduled investigators’ presentations to the local public at community board meetings, health fairs, town hall meetings, community conferences, presentations to clinicians at Grand Rounds, and two policy forums: one in the South Bronx on the health effects of air pollution, and one on the health effects of mold exposure and policy initiatives (please refer to the COTAC annual report, RD832141C005).
Media Coverage
Center research findings were issued via press release this past spring when investigators published findings on mental and motor delays in 3-year-olds who were prenatally exposed to high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The paper received a good amount of news coverage in newspapers as well as on television, radio, and the Internet. A lengthy article featuring Dr. Frederica Perera and the Center’s research appeared in the March 2006 issue of Discover magazine.
Coordination of All Center Studies
Staff coordinates meetings between all directors and co-investigators conducting the Center’s central study, as well as three other cohort studies being conducted in lower Manhattan, Poland, and China. Staff helps to ensure regular communication between investigators by helping to plan monthly meetings in order for investigators to stay informed of the Center’s related research, and discuss scientific methodology, study logistics, progress, research results, and ideas for comparative risk analyses between cohorts comprised of different ethnic populations exposed to a wide gradient of pollutant levels. Financial administration staff also manages all the budgetary aspects of these other studies and meets regularly with investigators and the Center’s director to discuss financial oversight.
Development
Core staff has continued over the past year to assist investigators in obtaining supplementary funding from private foundations to support the Center’s scientific research. The Core has been successful at raising additional support for the Center’s communications work, community outreach, education, and policy translation, as well as its scientific research.
Significance
The Core provides essential administrative support to Center investigators and advisors.
Future Activities:Core staff will continue in this role over the next year.
Relevant Websites:
http://www.mailman.hs.columbia.edu/ccceh/ 
Progress and Final Reports:
Original Abstract
Main Center Abstract and Reports:
R832141 Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health
Subprojects under this Center:
(EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
R832141C001 Growth and Development Research Project: Prenatal and Postnatal Urban Pollutants and Neurobehavioral Developmental Outcomes
R832141C002 Research Project on Asthma: Prenatal and Postnatal Urban Pollutants and Childhood Asthma
R832141C003 Mechanistic Research Project
R832141C004 Community-Based Intervention Project: Reduction of Exposure and Risk from Pesticides and Allergens
R832141C005 Community Translation and Application Core (COTAC)
R832141C006 Exposure Assessment Facility Core
R832141C007 Data Management, Statistics and Community Impact Modeling Core
R832141C008 Administrative Core