NYU Langone’s Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards, along with six other institutions across the nation, serves as a Collaborative Center in Children’s Environmental Health Research and Translation (CEHRT), an initiative funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). Our CEHRT capitalizes on a strong base of scientific knowledge about the effects of environmental exposures on children’s health to facilitate translation of research results into programs, interventions, and policies. We aim to improve children’s health from environmental exposures and promote environmental health equity, and serve as a resource to the scientific community and community stakeholders to provide opportunities for collaborations and access to center expertise.

We achieve our objectives through the following cores:

• Administrative Core: Manages plans for researcher investigation including prioritization of resources, access guidelines, and quality control to enhance the impact of the center on the scientific community and stakeholders 
• Developmental Core: Supports projects that generate preliminary data and implement and evaluate new interventions, strategies, concepts, and tools to address children’s environmental health (CEH) concerns. The core also fosters an innovative space to mentor early-stage investigators in CEH research with an emphasis on research translation approaches. 
• Translational Core: Supports multidisciplinary collaborations with a focus on developing specific strategies to expedite the bridging of research findings into practice, including the development of products. The core also measures the adoption of these products and shares insights with researchers, federal and state agencies, healthcare professionals, communities, and others to improve CEH. 

Our core activities include the following:

• developing meaningful prevention and intervention strategies and messages that work across different populations and settings
• adapting these strategies for diverse populations or settings to achieve higher population-wide impact
• quantifying the impacts of manufacturing changes, policy interventions, or dietary and other behavioral interventions designed to reduce exposure

Our Leadership

Administrative Core

Translational Core

Developmental Core

Our Faculty

Andrea Titus, PhD
Translational Core Co-Lead, NYU Langone’s Collaborative Center in Children’s Environmental Health Research and Translation
Assistant Professor, Department of Population Health

Madison N. LeCroy, PhD
Developmental Core Co-Lead, NYU Langone’s Collaborative Center in Children’s Environmental Health Research and Translation 
Assistant Professor, Department of Population Health  

Kevin R. Cromar, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Population Health
Program Director, Health, Environment and Policy Program, NYU Marron Institute

Our Staff

Mrudula Naidu, MS, MPH
Division Administrator, Department of Pediatrics
Business Manager, Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards

Rodrigo Arce, MD, MPH
Project Manager, Department of Population Health

Anna Carrasco, MPH
Program Manager, Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards

Rita Larson, MPH
Project Coordinator, Section for Health Equity, Department of Population Health

Marissa Singer
Project Coordinator, Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards

Jonathan Acevedo, MPH
Data Analyst, Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards

Interest Groups

We invite our pilot project awardees to attend one of two interest group meetings relevant to their pilot project. The two interest group workshop themes are endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDC) and climate change. The EDC meetings are held the first Thursday of every month and the climate change meetings are held on the third Friday. Both interest groups involve a pilot project awardee presenting their research including any updates, and one of our stakeholders presenting the work of their respective organizations. Recent stakeholder presentations have included Renee Sharp from Safer States; Dr. Meredith McCormack, Dr. Kirsten Koehler, and Dr. Melissa Pavelack from the BREATHE Center; and Mike Belliveau from Defend Our Health.

Catalyst Workshop Series 

Our center directors and affiliated researchers lead workshops throughout the CEHRT research cycle for our pilot project awardees on children’s environmental health and population science methods. Recent presentation topics have included “Children’s Environmental Health from Research to Action” and “Near Real-Time Modeling of Children’s Daily Asthma Emergency Department Visits Syndrome in New York City.”

CEHRT Stakeholders

We partner with internationally and nationally based environment-related organizations to inform our broader community of the goals of our collaborative center, for oversight and feedback on the work we are creating, to present the work of their respective organizations at our monthly interest group meetings, and ultimately, to ensure knowledge of EDCs and climate change in children is translated into policy and practice. 

Our current stakeholders are The Endocrine Society, Defend Our Health, Health Care Without Harm, Children’s Environmental Health Network, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Healthy Environment and Endocrine Disruptor Strategies, Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases, International Pollutants Elimination Network, Safer States, and Food Packaging Forum.

CEHRT Annual Meeting

Every year, members from each of the six CEHRT centers across the United States meet to present research findings, solidify cross-center collaborations, and bring children’s environmental health issues to the attention of state representatives for future legislation. The 2023 annual meeting will be held in Washington, DC, from September 27-29, and will focus on themes surrounding navigating mistrust of science and how to collaborate with stakeholders to ensure trust between scientists and the community.