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UMass Medical School enrolling participants in National Children's Study pilot program
December 05, 2012
By Lisa M. Larson
lisa.larson@umassmed.edu
(c) University of Massachusetts Medical School
WORCESTER, MA -- UMass Medical School is enrolling expectant mothers
from Worcester County in a pilot program in preparation for the much
larger National Children's Study, the landmark undertaking in which
100,000 children will be followed from the womb to age 21 to determine
the environment's impact on growth, development and onset of disease.
"We are excited to announce that we are enrolling our first
participants in this pilot study, an effort that may significantly
benefit children's health for generations to come," said Marianne
Felice, MD, professor of pediatrics and obstetrics at UMMS and principal
investigator of the NCS Worcester County Study site Center. "The
National Children's Study is the largest nation-wide longitudinal study
of a birth cohort of children ever undertaken in the United States. The
data collected will form the policies by which we treat children in the
future."
UMMS was awarded a $3.6 million, one-year contract from the
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to recruit
study participants from local OB/GYN offices and hospitals. This method
of recruitment, called provider-based sampling, is an alternative to the
original National Children's Study plan in which data collectors would
knock on doors in targeted neighborhoods across the country.
Dr. Felice said the goal is to determine if provider-based
sampling is a more efficient and cost-effective way of recruiting for
the main study.
Family Health Center of Worcester is the first practice
identified by the NIH for participation in the Worcester pilot study.
UMMS is working with Family Health staff to arrange appointments for
data collectors to meet patients at their first pre-natal appointments
and ask them to consider participating in the study. Women who agree to
take part will meet at home with data collectors twice over the course
of their pregnancies and again after their babies are born. At each
visit, the women will answer a series of questions about their health
and the environment in which they live. Participants must be residents
of Worcester County and sign up at their first pre-natal appointment
with their medical care provider.
"This is an exciting new venture in the 40-year partnership
between Family Health Center of Worcester, Inc. and UMass Medical
School," said Frances Anthes, CEO and president of Family Health.
"Family Health is thrilled to open the door to our community's
participation in the work of the medical school as the first site in
this important research project. This groundbreaking project will teach
us all how to create healthier lives for our children."
Eight data collectors have been hired and certified for the
program, along with two dozen additional new hires to support the
effort. A total of 15 physician's offices and pre-natal clinics will be
chosen to participate. The sites are being chosen by the national
office of the NCS to ensure that there is a representative sample of
Worcester County.
This is the second National Children's Study contract for UMMS.
In 2007, UMMS was awarded a $16.2 million, five-year contract and served
as one of 40 sites across the country conducting formative research
projects to determine the least costly and most efficient way to conduct
the National Children's Study. Research has ranged from the best ways
to collect environmental samples such as water, dust, soil, and air, to
how to engage the fathers of the infants in the study. After all the
formative studies are completed, the central office of the National
Children's Study will have more information on the best practices for
conducting the main study.
Data from the National Children's Study will be used to help
determine how to prevent and treat some of the nation's most pressing
health problems, including autism, birth defects, diabetes, and obesity.
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About the University of Massachusetts Medical School
The University of Massachusetts Medical School has built a
reputation as a world-class research institution, consistently producing
noteworthy advances in clinical and basic research. The Medical School
attracts more than $250 million in research funding annually, 80
percent of which comes from federal funding sources. The work of UMMS
researcher Craig Mello, PhD, an investigator of the prestigious Howard
Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), and his colleague Andrew Fire, PhD,
then of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, toward the discovery of
RNA interference was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or
Medicine and has spawned a new and promising field of research, the
global impact of which may prove astounding. UMMS is the academic
partner of UMass Memorial Health Care, the largest health care provider
in Central Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.umassmed.edu.
2012 News