This month several observances shed light on crucial areas of ECHO research. From Clinical Trials Day to Air Quality Awareness Week, and from Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month to Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week, May presents an opportunity to highlight the breadth of research efforts the ECHO Program makes to achieve its mission to enhance child health for generations to come.

Clinical Trials Day, celebrated on May 20, allows us to highlight important advancements of ECHO’s intervention component, the ECHO IDeA States Pediatric Clinical Trials Network (ISPCTN). In the network, researchers test carefully designed interventions, particularly among rural or underserved pediatric populations, to enhance children’s health in at least one of ECHO’s five health focus areas. I’m grateful to all our ECHO ISPCTN investigators, staff, and participants for their dedication to furthering the ECHO mission through clinical trials research.

One of these clinical trials is the BREATHE—Bronchiolitis Recovery and the Use of High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) Filters—study. The goal of this ECHO ISPCTN research is to determine the extent to which indoor air filtration improves breathing symptoms among infants who have been hospitalized for bronchiolitis, a common respiratory disease in very young children. As we mark Air Quality Awareness Week and Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month, the BREATHE study reminds us of the influences that toxic environmental factors like indoor air pollution can have on children’s lungs.

In the May ECHO Connector’s News from the NIH section, please read about our current Request for Information (RFI) to inform ongoing strategic planning for the ECHO Program. I encourage you and your colleagues to participate by submitting your feedback and suggestions by May 31, 2024.