Messages from Matt
A Message from the ECHO Director, Matthew W. Gillman, MD, SM
As the ECHO Program moves into 2026, we continue to deepen our understanding of how environmental exposures during pregnancy and childhood influence health outcomes. By studying these early windows of development, ECHO helps identify opportunities for action that strengthen trajectories of health throughout kids’ lives.
On May 6, 2026, ECHO will host the 2nd annual ECHO Translating Science to Action Symposium, a hybrid event that this year focuses on plastics and air quality, highlighting how evidence on these widespread exposures can inform programs, policy, and practice. Feedback on our inaugural Symposium in 2025 was highly positive, and we’ll build on that momentum in this and coming years.
The symposium underscores ECHO’s role in both maximizing scientific insights and translating evidence into action. You can read more about the event in the latest issue of the Connector, and I hope you'll register to attend.
I look forward to continuing to engage with you—our research community and partners—to enhance child health in 2026 and beyond.
—Matthew W. Gillman, MD, SM
Bi-monthly messages are archived on the following links
- Reflecting on 2025, Looking toward 2026 December 17, 2025
- ECHO Awards More Than $13 Million for Intervention Research September 11, 2025
- Translating ECHO Research into Tangible Action July 28, 2025
- ECHO Symposium: Translating Science to Action May 30, 2025
- ECHO Continues to Produce Impactful Research on the Root Causes of Chronic Childhood Disease March 26, 2025
- Big Year for the ECHO Program December 9, 2024
- Children’s Environmental Health Day September 30, 2024
- ECHO Breaks New Ground With Data and Samples for Widespread Use and Tools to Investigate Complex Mixtures of Environmental and Social Determinants of Health August 7, 2024
- May Observances Present Opportunity to Highlight Breadth of ECHO Program Research Efforts May 21, 2024
- Ways ECHO Investigators Conduct Important Research on How Maternal Health, Exposures, and Habits Influence Child Health March 26, 2024
- Using ECHO Cohort Data to Explore Critical Scientific Questions in Child Health January 29, 2024
- Celebrating ECHO’s Successes and Anticipating Even Greater Impact in 2024 November 27, 2023
- A New Cycle for the ECHO Cohort Consortium September 28, 2023
- Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Research and New Opportunities from the ECHO Program July 18, 2023
- Celebrating Clinical Trials May 11, 2023
- ECHO Investigators Conduct Research on How Nutrition Influences Child Health March 10, 2023
- 2023: Happy New Year January 30, 2023
- New Diabetes Research and Three Major Milestones for the ECHO Program November 21, 2022
- Childhood Obesity and the COVID-19 Pandemic September 29, 2022
- Chemical Exposures’ Influence on Maternal, Infant, and Childhood Health Outcomes July 20, 2022
- May is National Mental Health Awareness Month May 11, 2022
- March is National Nutrition Month March 16, 2022
- A New Year, Deeper Understanding of Prenatal, Infant, and Maternal Health Outcomes January 25, 2022
- Important Research on Facilitating COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake November 16, 2021
- National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month September 27, 2021
About
Dr. Matt Gillman joined the National Institutes of Health in 2016 as the inaugural director of the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program in the Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH). He joined NIH from Harvard Medical School where he was a professor of population medicine; he was also professor of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health.
Dr. Gillman has a background in the fields of epidemiology, pediatrics, and internal medicine. He came to NIH with experience in leading or collaborating on cohort studies and clinical trials. Dr. Gillman received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, earned a medical degree from Duke University, completed a med/peds residency at North Carolina Memorial Hospital, and received a master’s degree in epidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health.