Families

Are you participating in one of our studies? Learn more about the benefits for you and your family.

From infants and their parents, to preschoolers, mid-late childhood youth, adolescents, young adults, and older adults, there are almost 9,000 families, youth, and spouse/significant others who have, or are, participating in LEAD Center studies. Learn more about the benefits of, and reasons for, participating in our research.

To all our participants and their families—thank you so very much for your continued support!

Benefits of participation


Studies actively recruiting new participants: 


ECHO-Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes

ECHO is a national research initiative sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to determine what factors give children the highest likelihood of achieving the best health outcomes over their lifetimes. Environmental factors that will be studied include chemical and metals exposures, air pollution, pregnancy habits (diet, activity, medications), feeding habits after birth (breast, bottle, sold food introduction), the built environment (parks, traffic, safety), mental health issues and other social factors, among many others.

The LEAD Center has two ECHO sites:

  • ECHO Pediatrics: Participants in the on-going Healthy Start study will be asked if they wish to become part of the ECHO collaboration, allowing the chance to share information with over 80 other such studies, to leverage the amount and quality of all data to find the next generation of answers.  No new participants to the LEAD Center are getting recruited currently. 
  • ECHO Pregnancy (Mile High ECHO): Mile High ECHO will focus on collecting information from moms and their babies to understand how the environment and things that happen early in children’s life (including before they are conceived or born) influence a broad range of child health outcomes, including their development, health and well-being. This study is currently enrolling any pregnant person living in the Greater Denver Metropolitan Area that is 16 years old or older AND under 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Visit the Mile High ECHO website

Visit the ECHO website

Visit the NIH ECHO website

Participant testominials: 


HealthyStart Logo
"[The] reason I agreed to being part of the study is so that other children may be helped by what [is] learned through the studies that are done. Every child deserves a healthy start in life."

Healthy Start Mom

diabetes prevention program outcomes study logo
"DPP and all it has to offer – education, events, health screenings, eye photos, etc. – mean the world to me. All my counselors have diabetes prevention program outcomes study logobeen great, and I consider them friends"

DPP participant

Lifecourse Epidemiology of Adiposity & Diabetes (LEAD) Center

Colorado School of Public Health

CU Anschutz

Anschutz Health Sciences Building

1890 N Revere Ct

Suite 1002, 1st Floor

Mail Stop F426

Aurora, CO 80045


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