Overview

The Community Outreach and Translation Core (COTC) of the Children's Environmental Health Center (CEHC) at Illinois was based at the Family Resiliency Center. The project serves as the organizing hub of information and emerging knowledge about the lasting health effects on the developing infant, child, and adolescent that may come from exposures to everyday chemicals, combined with diets high in processed foods. The COTC linked scientific investigators of the CEHC with community stakeholders, which includes child care and public health professionals, parenting groups, and policy makers.

View the "Disrupt the Disruptors" video on this topic. (Produced with funding from support from National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 392 NIH 4 P01 ES022848 B COTC.)
Follow the Children's Environmental Health Center on Twitter.

Research Team (positions and affiliations listed at time of the project)

Community Outreach and Translation Care

  • Barbara Fiese, Ph.D., Former Director, Family Resiliency Center Director, Human Development and Family Studies
  • Brenda Koester, MS, Associate Director, Family Resiliency Center, Human Development and Family Studies

Children's Environmental Health Center at Illinois

Directors
  • Jodi Flaws, Ph.D., Professor, Comparative Biosciences
  • Susan Schantz, Ph.D., Professor Emerita; Intelligence, Learning, and Plasticity 
Investigators
  • Andrea Aguiar, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor; Intelligence, Learning, and Plasticity 
  • Renee L. Baillargeon, Ph.D., Alumni Distinguished Professor Emerita, Psychology
  • Lizanne DeStefano, Ph.D., I-STEM Educational Initiative Director
  • Barbara Fiese, Ph.D., Former Director, Family Resiliency Center, Human Development and Family Studies
  • Joseph Gardiner, Ph.D., University Distinguished Professor of Epidemiology
  • Daniel C. Hyde, Ph.D., Developmental Cognitive Neuroscientist, Department of Psychology
  • Janice M. Juraska, Ph.D., Professor, Psychology
  • CheMyong Ko, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Comparative Biosciences
  • Brenda Koester, MS, Associate Director, Family Resiliency Center, Human Development and Family Studies
  • Susan A. Korrick, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard University
  • Sidonie N. Lavergne, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, Comparative Biosciences
  • Yuan-Xiang Pan, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Molecular Nutrition, Food Science and Human Nutrition

Community Advisory Board

  • Susan Buchanan, Director, Great Lakes Center for Children's Environmental Health, Region 5 Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit
  • Jane Lanigan, PhD, Associate Professor of Human Development, Extension Specialist for Just in Time Parenting, and Co-leader of eXtension Alliance for Better Child Care, Washington State University Vancouver
  • Jan Maruna, Executive Director, Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies
  • Brandon Meline, Director, Maternal and Child Health Management, Champaign-Urbana Public Health District
  • Sessy Nyman, Vice President for Policy and Strategic Partnerships, Illinois Action for Children
  • Aisha Ray, Rochelle Zell Dean's Chair, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Dean of Faculty, Erikson Institute Graduate School in Child Development

Contact:
Brenda Koester
217-244-6486
bkoester@illinois.edu

Further Resources

Funding

  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 392 USEPA 83543401 COTC
  • National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 392 NIH 4 P01 ES022848 B COTC