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October 4, 2007

NIH children's research program coming to Brown

Citing the lofty goals of treating and possibly preventing devastating medical conditions such as autism, heart disease and obesity, the National Institutes of Health today announced the creation of more than 20 research centers.

The centers will be located across the country, including Brown University in Providence, and manage enrollment and data collection for a study of 100,000 participants from birth until their 21st birthdays for the National Children’s Study.

“Study researchers will examine not only what children are eating and drinking,” Duane Alexander, director of the NIH’s National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said in a statement, “but what’s in the air they breathe, what’s in the dust in their homes, and their possible exposures to chemicals from materials used to construct their homes and schools.”

Brown, with partner hospital Women & Infants, was awarded a five-year, $14.1 million contract to enroll 1,000 Providence-area children. It is the university's largest NIH research award in a decade. Other state and private health partners will also be involved.

Sen. Jack Reed co-authored a letter last year with fellow members of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, which oversees funding for the project when they learned funding was set to be cut. They were successful in getting funding reinstated.

“I commend Brown University and the Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island for their partnership in the program,” he said in a press release.

Twenty-two centers are planned in 20 states; they include centers affiliated with Yale University in Connecticut and the University of Massachusetts. The first part of funding comes from a $69 million congressional appropriation.

Posted by Brandie Jefferson  at 1:34 PM | Permalink

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