Deepening the Understanding of Environmental Exposures and their Impact on Childhood Cancers
Highlights
In 2025, the Childhood Cancer and the Environment Project (CCEP), an initiative of PHI’s Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) Network has successfully worked with pediatric health care providers, community health workers and the public to increase understanding of the significance of environmental exposures on morbidity and mortality outcomes in cancer survivors.
400+ Community health workers trained since the program began
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Focus Areas
Chronic Disease Prevention, Environmental Health -
Issues
Cancer -
Expertise
Research – Surveillance
Since 1975, there has been a 41% increase in the number of childhood cancer cases in the United States. The Childhood Cancer and the Environment Project (CCEP), an initiative of PHI’s Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) Network, aims to inform pediatric health care providers, community health workers and the public about the links between environmental factors and childhood cancers.
During the past three years, the project has successfully developed and produced several projects within the CCEP for a wide range of audiences. These have led to the growth of knowledge on environmental risk factors for childhood cancer amongst a field of people, from health care providers to the general public.
see the 2025 overview of accomplishmentsProject Highlights Include:
- Community Health Workers Delivering Vital Information to Families
Community outreach via Promotores de Salud and other community health workers (CHWs) is critical to delivering vital information directly to families. The PEHSU champions in Texas and Washington state were busy in 2025 conducting trainings using the innovative flipbook materials for these hard workers, both in-person and virtually. Over 400 CHWs have been trained since the program began, with hundreds more families benefiting from home visits. - Nurturing Consultative Services at Major Hospitals with Cancer Centers
The project has supported the establishment of two pilot consultative services on the environment and childhood cancer at major hospitals with cancer centers in Texas and Kansas and is exploring establishing such services at other cancer centers. The goal is for these services to be a resource for pediatric oncology providers, families and others who seek information on environmental exposures linked to childhood cancer and to increased risk for cancer survivors. - Conducting Educational Sessions for Pediatric Healthcare Providers
PEHSU Champions have conducted a number of webinars for clinicians, PEHSU colleagues and others on trends in childhood cancer to increase their knowledge of environmental risks for childhood cancer.
Learn more about how PEHSU‘s Childhood Cancer & the Environment Program in this one-minute video created by PHI’s Whitney Sterten-Hall:
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