More about the Center—see information about:
About the Center
Contact us
- Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health
- 100 Haven Avenue Tower III, Suite 25F
- New York, NY 10032
- Phone: (212) 304-7280
- Email: columbiacceh@gmail.com
Mission
The mission of the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health is to improve the respiratory health and cognitive development of children and to reduce their cancer risk by identifying environmental toxicants, genetic susceptibility factors, and conditions related to poverty that increase their risk of disease. In turn, our research results are used to educate parents, families, and health professionals and inform prevention strategies and public policy to reduce levels of harmful environmental toxicants.
Research — Our investigators are conducting scientific research studies on links between common environmental pollutants and children’s health. Pregnant women and children are monitored for their exposures to common urban pollutants from fuel burning, secondhand smoke, pesticides, pest allergens, lead, mercury, and mold. Data are analyzed to determine if higher levels of pollutants combined with other susceptibility factors increase children’s risk of asthma, mental and physical delay, attention and behavioral disorders, and cancer.
Methods — CCCEH is unique in the combination of methods used to further understand how early life exposures to environmental pollutants, material and nutritional deficiencies, and interactions with certain genetic compositions increase children’s risk of disease. Types of research include molecular epidemiologic cohort studies, laboratory-based experiments, and community interventions. Methods include personal and home air monitors to measure pollutant levels; biological sampling to measure biomarkers of prenatal and early postnatal exposure, preclinical effects, and susceptibility to environmental toxicants in children; and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to model community effects of pollution on children’s health.
Expertise — Dr. Frederica Perera, internationally recognized for pioneering the field of molecular epidemiology, leads a team of laboratory-based and clinical research experts specializing in asthma, pediatric health, environmental exposure assessment, perinatal epidemiology, biostatistics, community research, and GIS modeling.
Interdisciplinary Work — CCCEH combines experimental and biomedical etiologic research, community level modeling, interventions to reduce toxic pesticide use in New York City’s public housing, environmental health education for parents, families, educators, caretakers, and physicians, and translation of research results to inform public policy.
Global Scope — CCCEH is conducting major studies on children’s environmental health in the United States, Europe, and Asia. In New York City, studies are conducted in low-income neighborhoods in northern Manhattan and the South Bronx that are disproportionately burdened by pollution, and near the World Trade Center site. The Center also conducts studies in Krakow, Poland and Tongliang, China where coal-burning is prevalent.
Discover Initiative — CCCEH’s newest research undertaking is four coordinated studies funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Science’s (NIEHS) new centers program, Disease Investigation through Specialized Clinically-Oriented Ventures In Environmental Research (DISCOVER). The overall goal of the project is to understand when and how air pollutants increase the risk for childhood asthma.
CCCEH funders
Support for CCCEH has been generously provided by the following institutions and foundations:
Government Agencies
- The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- Irving General Clinical Research Center
Private Foundations
- Bauman Family Foundation
- Beldon Fund
- The Educational Foundation of America
- The Energy Foundation
- Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation
- The Irving A. Hansen Memorial Foundation
- Gladys & Roland Harriman Foundation
- Johnson Family Foundation
- The Marisla Foundation
- The John Merck Fund
- National Philanthropic Trust
- The New York Community Trust
- The New York Times Company Foundation
- Porpoise Fund
- V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation
- Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Foundation
- Rockefeller Brothers Fund
- Rockefeller Financial Services
- Schmidt Family Foundation
Site credits — This site is coordinated by Susan Illman and Sonali Rajan, with editorial oversight by CCCEH Director Frederica Perera and the Center’s Executive Committee and Advisory Board. Illustrations by David Garner and Ken Stetz. Site designed and maintained by Anne Garland.