- Mission [1]
- Since the consolidation of the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry (ATSDR) Office of the Directors in April 2004, the membership from the previous committees of ATSDR and NCEH were
combined to form one committee, the Board of Scientific Counselors, NCEH/ATSDR. NCEH was established to operate under a broad
mandate to prevent disability, disease, and death due to environmental factors; ATSDR program authorities and its appropriations
are primarily from the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980.ATSDR’s mandated responsibilities
require review and input from diverse scientific disciplines. The Board brings outstanding experts from several fields including
environmental health, epidemiology, occupational health, medicine, toxicology, environmental law. This capability centralized
in one Board does not exist elsewhere in the Department of Health and Human Services. The Board of Scientific Counselors (BSC)
supports the Agency's mission and its strategic plans by providing advice and guidance regarding Agency programs’ goals, objectives,
strategies, and priorities. This advice and guidance assists the CDC National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry (NCEH/ATSDR) in ensuring scientific quality, timeliness, utility, and dissemination of results.
The BSC also provides guidance that helps NCEH/ATSDR work more efficiently and effectively with its various constituents.During
Fiscal Year 2011, the BSC was charged with evaluating the Center’s ability to carry out its mission to investigate the relationship
between human health and the environment, resulting in recommendations for future directions and priorities.In Fiscal Year
2011, the BSC performed peer reviews on the Environmental Health Tracking Branch and the Air Pollution and Respiratory Health
Branch and the Climate Change Program within the Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects (EHHE). The BSC Peer
Review Report of EHHE indicated that the BSC was impressed with the work of the programs, and the overall conclusion of the
BSC was that the programs meet and exceed their stated goals. Some areas of concern were identified in the Report and discussed
with recommendations. For example: The BSC peer review report stated that “The Environmental Health Tracking Branch (EHTB)
is to be commended on building an environmental public health surveillance infrastructure that never before existed at CDC.
EHTB built the National Environmental Health Tracking Network (Network) with five guiding principles: enhanced workforce capacity,
solid science related to environmental health tracking, policy and program development, communications, and partnerships to
integrate health and environmental issues. The Network includes an overall process that is well defined, goal-oriented and
executed reasonably well. The Network is a cross-jurisdictional effort establishing data linkages between environmental health
and public health. The commitment to continue to improve the interface is encouraging. EHTB has completed excellent work building
the capacity of states to use environmental health data. The BSC is concerned that “CDC is not well positioned to address
and temper Congressional and advocates’ expectations for etiologic advances and cluster detection from this process. CDC needs
a clear strategy to communicate the value of Network as an environmental surveillance system, even if it does not meet the
broader expectations of its constituents.” The BSC peer review report on the Climate Change Program stated that “CDC is to
be commended for taking leadership at the federal level to fund and support research on the health impacts of climate change.
CCP should partner with ATSDR-/EPA-funded Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units (PEHSUs). PEHSUs are a national network
of environmental health experts that can facilitate linkages to three key audiences to enhance knowledge of climate change-related
health impacts: (1) academic institutions to train the public health workforce, (2) healthcare providers to raise awareness
in communities and regions across the country, and (3) the general public to provide education.The BSC peer review report
on the Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch (APRHB) stated that “APHRB is to be commended for its leadership, guidance
and technical assistance to state health programs on asthma surveillance, control, and evaluation and other air pollution
activities. APRHB should take a more strategic approach encouraging its grantees to collect data that would be more effective
and relevant for targeting asthma interventions in communities bearing the greatest burden.” The BSC Program Peer Review Report
of the Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects (EHHE) was approved by the BSC and sent forward to the NCEH/ATSDR
Office of the Director and EHHE. EHHE has compiled a report responding to the recommendations in the BSC Report. The EHHE
responses to the recommendations were presented and discussed with the BSC during the 2011 May Meeting. Steps are being taken
by EHHE to address recommendations raised in the BSC Program Peer Review Report that have not been fully implemented. Additionally,
the BSC peer reviewed programs within the Divisions of Emergency and Environmental Health Services and Laboratory Sciences
and prepared reports with recommendations. Both divisions have compiled reports addressing the recommendations in the BSC
Program Peer Review Reports of their divisions. Steps are being taken by the two divisions to address recommendations raised
in the BSC Program Peer Review Report that have not been fully implemented. Since the establishment of the NCEH/ATSDR BSC,
the BSC and its Workgroups have performed peer reviews on 22 programs, 4 site specific activities, and the Internal Clearance
Policy & External Peer Review Policy and Procedures for Documents within NCEH/ATSDR.
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