Research Study Team
Dana Dabelea, MD, PhD
As Principal Investigator for the National Children’s Study in Colorado, Dr. Dabelea is leading Study planning and implementation for Douglas County. Dr. Dabelea is an Associate Professor at the Colorado School of Public Health, and has contributed greatly to the field of diabetes research. Her research interests center on how early life risk factors influence the development of childhood obesity and diabetes. She hopes to better understand the complex causes of pediatric diabetes, with the goal of reducing, delaying and preventing its occurrence and burden.
Stephen Daniels, MD, PhD, MPH
Dr. Daniels is a Senior Investigator with the National Children’s Study in Colorado and oversees the pediatric data collection component of the Study. His expertise is in preventative cardiology, and as Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado Denver and Chief of Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital, Dr. Daniels conducts research focused on the causes of blood pressure elevation and cholesterol abnormalities in children and adolescents, and the role obesity may play in these health issues. He brings a wealth of knowledge to the Study and is pleased.
Richard F. Hamman, MD, DrPH
As Senior Investigator with the National Children’s Study in Colorado, Dr. Hamman’s primary role is Study sampling design and implementation to ensure comprehensive coverage of Douglas County. Dr. Hamman is the founding Dean of the Colorado School of Public Health. His research interests focus on chronic disease epidemiology and prevention, with specialties in diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and aging in minority populations. Dr. Hamman is a nationally respected researcher and is excited to be a part of the leadership team bringing the National Children’s Study to Douglas County.
Susan Johnson, PhD
Dr. Johnson is the Director of Community Relations for the National Children’s Study in Colorado. Dr. Johnson’s role includes working closely with the Community Advisory Board, conducting community events, and overseeing marketing and public relations efforts for the National Children’s Study in Douglas County. Dr. Johnson’s research focuses on children’s eating behaviors, weight outcomes and the impact of the mealtime environment upon children’s eating patterns. She also develops community education and prevention programs in the area of childhood nutrition. Dr. Johnson is excited about working closely with community members in Douglas County as the study moves forward.
Carolyn DiGuiseppi, MD, PhD, MPH 
Dr. DiGuiseppi is the Director of Protocol Compliance for the National Children’s Study in Colorado. She directs the Preventive Medicine Residency Program at the University of Colorado Denver and is the Deputy Director of the Colorado Injury Control Research Center. Dr. DiGuiseppi is a leader in injury epidemiology and prevention research in Colorado, and she also conducts research on autism and other developmental conditions.
Anne Lynch, MD, MSPH
Dr. Lynch is the Director of Medical Community Relations for the National Children’s Study in Colorado. She is Associate Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Colorado Denver. Her primary research focus is the relationship between inflammation in early pregnancy with adverse pregnancy outcomes. Dr. Lynch has been a principal investigator on numerous studies involving pregnancy outcomes and is looking forward to working with the medical community in Douglas County.
John Adgate, PhD, MSPH 
Professor Adgate is the Director of Environmental Monitoring with the National Children’s Study in Colorado. He was selected as the chairperson of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health for the Colorado School of Public Health in 2009. His research interests include environmental causes of asthma; children’s exposure to pesticides, air pollution and allergens; and exposure reduction interventions. He brings a strong environmental science background to Colorado’s National Children’s Study team.
Matt Haemer, MD
Dr. Haemer is the CO-Director of Medical Community Relations with the National Children’s Study in Colorado. He is interested in testing strategies for primary care providers to participate in childhood obesity prevention, screening, and treatment. He seeks to test the hypothesis that engagement of primary care providers in meaningful screening and prevention messaging is contingent upon the availability of treatment resources. His long term goal is to translate the results of observational and highly controlled experimental research identifying early life risk factors for obesity into interventions within the primary care setting for the youngest children, infants, and expecting parents.
Diane Burkom, MA 
As the Survey Operations Lead for the National Children’s Study in Colorado, Ms. Burkom is responsible for assisting with the development of the data collection procedures, training field staff, and providing guidance and oversight for the local field operations. She has over 24 years of survey operations experience, having played a key role on more than 95 health-related projects, investigating various adverse health outcomes in young children, teenagers, parents, severely ill patients, clinical trial participants, the elderly, and high-risk groups.
For an overview of the national research, including the Study design and efforts undertaken to date in the Study, please visit the Research section of the national Web site.
Advisory Board
Community Advisory Board
Kerry Goudy – Early Childhood Preschool Coordinator Douglas County Schools
Kerry has worked in leadership and management positions serving young children and families for over 20 years in the Health, Education, and Private sectors. She currently coordinates the Douglas County Early Childhood Department including Preschool, Child Find, Colorado Preschool Project, and Grant community partnerships. In her spare time Kerry enjoys the outdoors including hiking, skiing and cycling.
Sandy Gregory, MS - Director, Douglas County Early Childhood Coalition
The Douglas County Early Childhood Coalition (DCECC) serves as the early childhood council for Douglas County and its mission is to foster and promote a comprehensive, high quality, and responsive system of early childhood services and supports for families with children, prenatal to age eight.. As Director, Sandy oversees the day-to-day operations of DCECC including strategic planning, public engagement activities, building partnerships in the community, and developing sustainable resources. The mission of the Douglas County Early Childhood Coalition
Steve Grover, MD - The OB/GYN Center
Dr. Grover is an Obstetrician/Gynecologist at Sky Ridge Medical Center in Lone Tree and Parker Adventist Hospital in Parker, Colorado. Dr. Grover was the first Chairman of the Department of Women's Services at Sky Ridge Medical Center in Lone Tree from 2003 until 2006. As a Douglas County resident since 1992, he was proud to be able to serve on the Medical Executive Committee of Douglas County's first hospital. He was honored to be able to deliver the first baby born at Sky Ridge Medical Center the day the hospital opened on August 20, 2003. He is a tireless advocate for improved health of women and children.
Rachel Hutson, MSN, RN, CPNP - Director, Child, Adolescent, and School Health Unit
As director of the Child, Adolescent, and School Health Unit at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Rachel provides oversight for the Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems grant, the Early Childhood Health Integration grant, the Coordinated School Health Program, the School-Based Health Center Program, Adolescent Health Initiatives, and the Tony Grampsas Youth Services Program.
Bebe Kleinman, MNM - Executive Director, Doctors Care
As Executive Director of Doctors Care, Bebe guides staff, board and volunteers toward a mission of providing affordable, accessible, quality health care services to the medically underserved. Under her leadership, Doctors Care integrates primary and specialty care through an extensive network of 850 volunteer providers, five partner hospitals, two hospital systems and an onsite pediatric and young adult clinic.
Jamie LaRue, MS - Director, Douglas County Libraries. Chair – NCS Community Advisory Board
Jamie LaRue has been the director of the Douglas County Libraries since 1990. He regularly writes a weekly newspaper column, appearing in the Douglas County News-Press and its affiliates. He is the former president of the Colorado Library Association and continues to contribute greatly to the Douglas County Community.
Lisa Piscopo, BS, MA, PhD – KidsCount Director, Colorado Children’s Campaign
Lisa Piscopo conducts research analysis and coordinates Kids Count activities at the Colorado Children’s Campaign. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Denver in the GIS Department of University College focusing on demography, spatial analysis, and educational and social equity for children in Colorado. The Colorado Children's campaign works to create hope and opportunity in Colorado, more than one million kids at a time.
Priscilla Queen – Douglas County Libraries Literacy Department
Priscilla Queen has a love of language, sharing literature, and promoting literacy. The importance of early literacy and how libraries provide experiences and support for families are the cornerstones for Priscilla’s work in the community. She trains early literacy volunteers and Spellbinders, volunteer storytellers in Douglas County, and presents workshops and programs at local and national conferences.
Jim Ryan, M.Div, D.Min – Executive Director, Colorado Council of Churches
Ordained into the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 1974, Jim has served as Senior Minister of First Christian Church in Des Moines, Iowa, Executive Director of Ecumenical Ministries of Iowa, and on staff of Central Christian Church in Denver. Since 2000, he has served as the Executive Director of the Colorado Council of Churches.
News
Media contact:
Jackie Brinkman, Public Relation Assistant
Jackie.Brinkman@ucdenver.edu | 303.724.1525
9 News
Women sought to participate in long-term children's health study
AURORA - Our environment and our genetics are the focus of a new national study involving children. The National Institutes of Health is funding the National Children's Study which is expected to be the longest long term study of childhood development in the United States.
Researchers are looking for women who are or may become pregnant in the next few years and who live in a study area within Douglas County. Information about study participation and eligibility criteria are available at www.coloradochildrensstudy.org. To contact study organizers at the University of Colorado Denver write to NCS.Co@ucdenver.edu.
Initially, participants will be asked to respond to questionnaires about the environment in which their children live, learn and play as well as their family health history. At a later date, participants may be asked to visit clinics at study centers, and asked to provide biological samples, such as blood and urine, as well as environmental samples, like tap water from their homes and house dust.
Nationally, the study plans to enroll 100,000 children from 105 sites across the country.
As part of their work, researchers will gather genetic, biological and environmental samples, and compile statistical information for study analyses investigating how genetic and environmental factors influence children's health and disease.
NIH officials expect that the study will yield valuable health information throughout its 25-year span. Within just a few years, the study expects to provide information on disorders of pregnancy and birth.
Since the women are being recruited before they give birth, the study is expected to provide insight into the causes and contributors of preterm birth. More than 500,000 premature infants are born each year in the United States. Infants born prematurely are at risk for early death and a variety of health problems, such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation and learning disabilities. Health care costs for preterm infants total $26 billion per year.
The National Children's Study provides an outstanding opportunity for Douglas County families to contribute to the long-term health of America's children. The study is unique because its size, longitudinal span, and broad scope will allow researchers to test hypotheses that would be impossible to assess in a shorter, smaller study," Dr. Dana Dabelea, PhD, principal investigator and associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health, said. "These include hypotheses related to the role, timing and interaction of multiple exposures operating throughout the life-course that may hold clues to identifying preventive measures for health problems like asthma, obesity, diabetes and autism."
The study is being conducted locally through a partnership between the Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado School of Medicine and Battelle Memorial Institute. Dabelea is joined by Drs. Richard Hamman and Carolyn DiGuiseppi in the Colorado School of Public Health, Drs. Stephen Daniels and Susan Johnson in the Department of Pediatrics, and Dr. Anne Lynch in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Researchers are partnering with numerous community-based organizations, health departments, delivery hospitals and local providers.
Douglas County to be part of genetic, environmental study on people from the womb to adulthood
By Carlos Illescas
The Denver Post
POSTED: 10/28/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT
UPDATED: 10/28/2010 05:52:29 AM MDT
Haylee Moore is three weeks from having her third child, and autism runs in her family. Moore's mother has 12 siblings, four of whom have children with autism. "Autism is a little bit scary," she said.
Moore, 33, who lives in Parker, has applied to be part of a longitudinal study announced Wednesday that she hopes will answer questions about how the disorder is transmitted among families.
The National Children's Study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, will track children in Douglas County and 104 other communities nationwide from before birth to the age of 21 to see how their environment affects their health.
"I think it's a wonderful opportunity to hopefully get some answers about some of these diseases and disorders that we don't know what causes them and how they are passed through families," Moore said.
The study is being done locally through a partnership including the Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado School of Medicine and the Battelle Memorial Institute.
Officials are hoping to sign up 100,000 families from 105 communities, including Doug las County where investigators are working to recruit 1,000 subjects.
The research will be the largest long-term study ever done of environmental and genetic influences in children in the entire country.
"We hope to better understand how children, their genes and their environment interact to affect the growth and development of these children," said Dr. Dana Dabelea of the Colorado School of Public Health.
Dabelea said the study will examine a variety of factors related to how children live — from the tap water, dust and the air in their homes, to the actions of the parents (such as whether they smoke or drink alcohol) to what children eat and how they are cared for.
Initially, participants will be asked questions about their children's environment. Some may be asked to submit blood, urine and hair samples. Visits to their homes also would take place.
Parker resident Haylee Moore, 33, who is three weeks from giving birth to her third child, stands Wednesday in the nursery of her future son, who already has been named Jett. Moore has applied to be part of the National Children's Study because autism runs in her family and she hopes the study will provide some answers about the disorder. At left is an ultrasound image from earlier in her pregnancy. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post )
Researchers hope to better understand such diseases and disorders as autism, diabetes, obesity, asthma, pediatric cancers, learning disabilities and even injuries. The environment a fetus is exposed to is also important for the study, Dabelea said.
Within the first five years, the study will produce insight into pregnancy, premature births and birth disorders.
The study is similar to the Framingham Heart Study, which since 1948 has followed a group of people and their children and grandchildren to better understand the factors that contribute to cardiovascular disease.
On Wednesday, the study group began recruiting pregnant women and women who plan to become pregnant.
Participants will receive compensation for their time and effort.
The test communities were selected to ensure a comprehensive sample of diverse families and children from throughout the country.
Douglas County was chosen because of its location, excellent schools and its rural and suburban mix, according to the National Children's Study.
Organizers say what they learn from the study group could be groundbreaking and may lead to advances in treatments and behavior modifications for all sorts of diseases and disorders.
"There's never been a study that large and that comprehensive as the National Children's Study," Dabelea said.
CU-Denver now recruiting for National Children’s Study in Douglas County
November 2nd, 2010 11:40 am MT
Today in Douglas County the University of Colorado Denver kicked off the local recruitment phase for the National Children’s Study, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The study is the largest long-term examination of environmental and genetic effects on children’s health ever conducted in the United States.
Women who are or may become pregnant in the next few years and who live in a study area within Douglas County may be eligible to participate. Information about study participation and eligibility criteria are available at www.coloradochildrensstudy.org. To contact study organizers at the University of Colorado Denver write to NCS.Co@ucdenver.edu.
Initially, participants will be asked to respond to questionnaires about the environment in which their children live, learn and play as well as their family health history. At a later date, participants may be asked to visit clinics at study centers, and asked to provide biological samples, such as blood and urine, as well as environmental samples, like tap water from their homes and house dust.
Nationally the study plans to enroll 100,000 children from 105 sites across the country.
As part of their work, researchers will gather genetic, biological, and environmental samples, and compile statistical information for study analyses investigating how genetic and environmental factors influence children’s health and disease.
NIH officials expect that the study will yield valuable health information throughout its 25-year span. Within just a few years, the study expects to provide information on disorders of pregnancy and birth. Since the women are being recruited before they give birth, the study is expected to provide insight into the causes and contributors of preterm birth. More than 500,000 premature infants are born each year in the United States. Infants born prematurely are at risk for early death and a variety of health problems, such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation, and learning disabilities. Health care costs for preterm infants total $26 billion per year.
“The National Children’s Study provides an outstanding opportunity for Douglas County families to contribute to the long-term health of America’s children. The study is unique because its size, longitudinal span, and broad scope will allow researchers to test hypotheses that would be impossible to assess in a shorter, smaller study,” said Dana Dabelea, MD, PhD, Principal Investigator and Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Health. “These include hypotheses related to the role, timing and interaction of multiple exposures operating throughout the life-course that may hold clues to identifying preventive measures for health problems like asthma, obesity, diabetes, and autism.”
The study is being conducted locally through a partnership between the Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado School of Medicine, and Battelle Memorial Institute. Dr. Dabelea is joined by Drs. Richard Hamman and Carolyn DiGuiseppi in the Colorado School of Public Health, Drs. Stephen Daniels and Susan Johnson in the Department of Pediatrics, and Dr. Anne Lynch in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Researchers are partnering with numerous community-based organizations, health departments, delivery hospitals and local providers.
Infants wanted for health study
Published: 10.13.10
Douglas County has been chosen to be part of a comprehensive study to investigate long-term environmental and genetic influences on children’s health.
The National Children’s Study, conducted by the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will follow newborns all the way through the age of 21. The organizations, with the help of the University of Colorado Schools of Public Health and Medicine, are now recruiting expectant mothers and women who are thinking about becoming pregnant to participate.
The study will be the single largest long-term examination of environmental and genetic influences on children’s health ever conducted in the United States. It will examine family genetics, neighborhoods and schools, chemical exposures, food and water, cultural differences, geographic locations, as well as behavior, learning disabilities and mental health. The ultimate goal is to improve the health and well-being of children.
“We’re interested in various exposures and how the entire environment in which contemporary children are born, grow up and develop affects them,” said Dana Dabelea, principal investigator for CU-Denver. “We look at things like physical, biological and behavioral factors, the interaction between genetics and the environment.”
Douglas County was chosen specifically for its mix of suburban areas, ranchland, gated communities, towns and older farming communities that are expanding and changing their character. The county’s “socioeconomic variation, unique community structure, and expanding population size” make it an ideal location for a study center, an announcement from the federal health groups says.
Douglas County was recently rated the “healthiest county in Colorado” during a ranking of all counties in the United States. It is among 30 other locations nationwide to be selected for the study. Only certain neighborhoods in Douglas County are eligible to participate; officials were unable to publicly release a map of the areas.
Researchers expect to analyze the information they collect for years to come and gain new understanding of how environmental factors such as the food, chemical exposure and other aspects of daily life might interact with genes to affect health and development. Early results will be released and analyzed before the entire study is completed.
It’s a longitudinal study so we will analyze the data as we go along,” Dabelea said. “We can look at pregnancy outcomes and the development of the child in the first five years.”
Participants will be asked to respond to questionnaires about their environment and family health histories. At a later date, they could be asked to visit clinics at study centers and provide biological samples, such as blood and urine, as well as environmental samples, like tap water from their homes and house dust. Partners and children of participants may also be asked to provide samples and respond to questionnaires.
Researchers will catch up with study subjects at least every six months. Participants will be compensated for their time and medical bills related to the study.
The organizations overseeing the study will rent space for a field office at the Lone Tree Medical Center near Lincoln Avenue and Yosemite Street.
Official recruitment of test subjects will begin Nov. 1 and study leaders hope to begin observations within a year. Roughly 100,000 kids nationwide will be followed through their first 21 years; the final results will be released in about 25 years, Dabelea said.
“It can help change how we think about healthy development and might make the environment in which our children grow safer for our own families as well as for future generations,” she said.
Representatives with the National Institutes of Health have met with local organizations and formed an advisory board that is charged with developing recruitment techniques and ways to retain participants. They also spoke with local health providers and delivery hospitals to ensure access for birth visits. The initial phase of the study focuses on interviewing parents before the baby is born, Dabelea said.
Additional information about volunteering to participate, and eligibility criteria is available at http://www.nationalchildrensstudy.gov.