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
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, and healthcare
providers. Building on the scientific knowledge being generated by Emory
researchers specifically on the environmental health risks to 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 communities in the Atlanta area
who may be inadvertently subject to environmental risk. 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: 5P2CES033430-05
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Sun Joo Ahn