I am delighted to announce the inaugural ECHO Symposium: Translating Science to Action on September 15, 2025, at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland, and online. 

Register today to join in person or online.

Please join me for this free-to-attend, one-day event that aims to translate child health research findings from ECHO and others into action by informing intervention programs, health policies, and clinical practice. Experts from multiple disciplines will explore factors that influence child health and address opportunities to prevent childhood disorders and enhance well-being. Join representatives of professional societies, advocacy groups, federal partners, Congress, state and local governments, research participants, and others. 

Three sequential sessions will cover Chemical Exposures, Social and Neighborhood Factors, and Community Experiences. Each session will feature a chair, presenters, and a discussant to kick off a panel discussion that follows presentations. Both in-person and online attendees will have the chance to ask questions. 



I look forward to seeing you there.

Matthew Gillman, MD, SM

Director of the ECHO Program

Children born in neighborhoods with fewer opportunities are more likely to experience repeated asthma flares requiring emergency care or medical treatment.

Key takeaways:



• Children from low-opportunity neighborhoods had significantly higher incidence rates of asthma with recurrent exacerbations (ARE) than those from higher-opportunity areas.
• Non-Hispanic Black children had higher rates across all neighborhood categories when compared to Non-Hispanic White children.
• Among children in very low-opportunity neighborhoods, non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic Black children had rates of ARE several times higher than non-Hispanic White children.
• Young children (ages 2 to 4) and those with a parent who had asthma had a higher risk of ARE.

Join us for the next monthly webinar

On June 11, at 1 p.m. Diana Pacyga, MS, PhD, of UNC Chapel Hill will present "Does adherence to U.S. dietary guidelines during pregnancy reduce exposure to over 50 contemporary and understudied chemicals?"

May

DNA methylation and ECHO scientific priorities

In May, Christine Ladd-Acosta, PhD provided a brief introduction to DNA methylation, outlined a framework for how it can be examined in ECHO to address scientific priorities, highlighted a few findings in ECHO to date, and summarized opportunities and challenges for future studies.

April

Opportunities and challenges for subfecundity research

In April, Linda Kahn, PhD shared new ECHO data tools and a study exploring links between subfecundity and child brain development.

ECHO Director, ISPCTN Project Scientist Publish JAMA Editorial



ECHO Director Matt Gillman and ECHO ISPCTN Project Scientist Linda Fu recently published an editorial in JAMA titled "Vitamin D Guidelines in Primary Care.”