May is National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month.

Nearly 5.5 million children in the U.S. are living with asthma, a respiratory disease that causes much suffering and loss of days at school and work.

ECHO investigators aim to fill gaps in research on conditions that affect kids’ airways by studying data from our pediatric cohorts and by testing interventions in our IDeA States Pediatric Clinical Trials Network. With its large sample size, diverse populations, and ongoing studies, the ECHO Program is well positioned to conduct studies that can help researchers and doctors better understand, prevent, and treat asthma in children.

I’m pleased that this month’s ECHO Connector includes some of ECHO’s latest research in our upper and lower airways outcome area. While many studies have focused on children who already have asthma, it’s also important to know who is at highest risk of getting asthma, so that researchers and doctors can better understand how to prevent it. In a paper by ECHO researchers published in JAMA Pediatrics this month, ECHO researchers share new findings about which groups of children are most likely to get an asthma diagnosis as they grow up.

In other news, the NIH ECHO Program Office recently released a Request for Information (RFI) to solicit input from the scientific community and the general public about enhancing ECHO science. I encourage you to provide input to this RFI, due to NIHKidsandEnironment@od.nih.gov  and sonia.arteaga@nih.gov by Tuesday, June 8, and share it with your networks and colleagues. Your input will be critical to enhancing ECHO research.

In addition, the ECHO Program is sponsoring a free workshop on preconception research this June 17-18, and I encourage you to register. This virtual workshop will feature presentations by NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins and other experts who will discuss the state of the science, research gaps, and opportunities related to how preconception exposures may influence child health outcomes.