UMass Chan Medical School
PAE-19: Community Sustainability Partnerships

UMass Medical School was awarded a highly competitive National Chidren's Study (NCS)contract in October 2007. UMMS was the only institution in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to win its own NCS contract. Beginning in the summer of 2009, Dr. Marianne Felice, chair of pediatrics at UMMS and physician-in-chief of the UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center, and her team have been aided by a small army of field researchers, environmental experts, obstetricians, pediatricians, nurses and community leaders to recruit 1,000 infants from Worcester County - before they are born, or in some cases conceived – and closely track them until their 21st birthdays. The data the team collects about the children’s health and environments will be vast. Children from Worcester County will be part of a cohort of 100,000 enrolled over the course of five years through 105 sites across the country in an unprecedented effort to provide vital new insights into the effects of environmental and genetic factors on human growth, development and disease. Conclusions of the NCS are expected to help the United States set environmental, social and health policy that will affect millions of people for generations to come.