Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have joined together to support a National Institutes of Health (NIH) program called Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO). This large, observational child health research study began in 2016 to try to answer big questions about how influences in early human development, even before birth, affect us throughout our lives and across generations. The ECHO program is focused on five areas of childrens health: pregnancy and birth, breathing, body weight, brain development, and well-being. By enrolling pregnant individuals and their children from diverse backgrounds (racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically), the Penn-CHOP research team will help contribute to the understanding and enhancement of children for generations to come.

The first few years of life are a time of rapid growth and brain development. The Healthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study will help us better understand how a child may be shaped by experiences and conditions in pregnancy and early life. These include social and environmental experiences in early life and exposure to substances (such as opioids, alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis) during pregnancy. The HBCD Study will enroll a large cohort of participating families from across the U.S. and follow them and their children through early childhood. The researchers want to better understand how the brain develops and is affected by exposure to substances and other environmental conditions during pregnancy and after birth.