Translation Core

TRANSLATIONAL CORE - ABSTRACT
The Translational Core (TC) will be the primary focus of the Center and support scientists, community
members, and healthcare providers in generating and disseminating critical research findings in children's
environmental health to raise awareness of exposure risks and encourage meaningful actions for risk
mitigation, equitably across communities. The TC addresses the historical challenges of bridging the gap of the
generation of new scientific knowledge into high-impact messages that promote and sustain long-lasting
change among individuals, families, healthcare providers. Building on the scientific knowledge being generated
by Emory researchers specifically on the environmental health issues of inner city AA families and young
children, the TC will focus on accelerating the translation of these findings to public health and clinical practice
with a primary focus on underserved communities in the Atlanta area who may be inadvertently subject to
environmental injustice. To maximize the public health impact of our translational efforts, the TC will 1)
leverage the storytelling power of virtual reality (VR), 2) harness the ability of communication platforms to
socially connect users across physical distances, and 3) design messages with environmental health literacy
practices in mind so that the communication is clearly understandable and accessible to target audiences. This
effort will be led by Dr. Sun Joo Ahn, TC Lead and director of the Games and Virtual Environments Lab at the
University of Georgia, where she specializes in designing and evaluating interactive media messages to
promote health behaviors. She will be joined by Dr. Ruth Parker, a leading national expert on research,
education, and policy efforts to advance our nation's health literacy. The TC will be advised by the Community
Cabinet of the Administrative Core, including Dr. Na'Taki Osborne Jelks of Spelman University, a nationally-
recognized leader in engaging urban communities and youth in environmental stewardship. This translational
team will also collaborate with the Region 4 Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units and the substantial
engagement with Atlanta communities and health providers to further the aims of this core. With this expertise
in environmental health, communication science, health literacy, and community engagement, the TC will work
closely with CEH researchers to develop innovative and efficacious communication strategies to support and
expand the capacity of individuals and communities to apply critical CEH findings in their lives.

Grant Number: 5P2CES033430-04
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Sun Joo Ahn