Children’s Health Centers: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

A physician who conducted some of the first studies documenting the effect of lead poisoning on children. An epidemiologist studying the effects of exposure to diethylstilbestrol (DES). A toxicologist pointing out the many different chemical exposures associated with impulsivity. Though each of their disciplines uses a different language, all of these scientists study the links between the environment and childhood disease. They are just a few of the researchers who converged at the “Children’s Environmental Health Research: Past, Present, and Future” conference held 22–23 January 2007 at the NIEHS. Sponsored in full by the NIEHS and planned jointly with the EPA, the conference aimed to get scientists talking about what types of research have been most effective. The result was recommendations to help chart the course for NIEHS children’s environmental health research over the next five to ten years, including the future of the Centers for Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research.