Partnership Teams
Fundamental to the success of NORA are the contributions of the Partnership Teams. The Teams' ability to involve key stakeholders in the priority areas, define research needs, and leverage resources for research are critical to the implementation of the Agenda.
Each team consists of a team leader, NIOSH researchers, and external partners. The 20 partnership teams have brought together approximately 130 NIOSH researchers and 170 external members (see inside front and back covers for team membership). External membership includes faculty from public and private colleges and universities, representatives of professional organizations and major industries, leaders in the insurance industry, health and safety professionals from organized labor, and representatives from other government agencies. The following summaries highlight the work of each of the 20 NORA Partnership Teams.
Team Summaries
Allergic and Irritant Dermatitis TeamThe Allergic and Irritant Dermatitis (AID) Team mission is to develop a broad-based, active, and lasting group to catalyze research in AID. To date, AID Team accomplishments include: organizing and co-sponsoring meetings within the occupational safety and health and dermatology community; enhancing dermatology-related activities through both intramural and extramural research; and developing research priorities. In September 1998, the team cosponsored the Workshop on Health Effects and Benefits of UV Radiation and Tanning with the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), NIOSH, and others. The Experimental Contact Dermatitis Research Group, sponsored by NORA AID Team/NIOSH, the Skin Disease Research Centers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University/University Hospitals of Cleveland, and the Procter & Gamble Company, was convened in Cincinnati May 20-21, 1999. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the basic and applied science of experimental contact dermatitis. On March 9, 2000, the NORA AID Team/NIOSH sponsored the Donald J. Birmingham Occupational Skin Diseases Session at the 11th Annual Meeting of the American Contact Dermatitis Society in San Francisco. In FY 1998, NIOSH and NIAMS co-funded an RFA for irritant dermatitis and funded five dermatitis projects. In FY 2000, NIOSH funded an inter-divisional intramural research program, Developing Dermal Policy Based on Lab and Field Studies. Finally, the team has been working on the development of research priorities in AID (now available in draft form). Asthma & Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Team
The Asthma & Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Team has continued its successful partnerships with federal agencies to increase resources available for the extramural community for research on occupational asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Requests for applications for such research have been jointly supported with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in each of the last three years. In addition, NIOSH has partnered with the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to fund two cooperative agreements to ascertain the population-based proportion of incident asthma cases attributable to occupational exposures. Intramurally, NIOSH sponsors a major initiative on research for occupational asthma reduction, including projects on building-related asthma in offices and schools, workplace exacerbation of pre-existing asthma, medical monitoring for isocyanate asthma, and latex asthma in Veterans Administration hospitals. The team hosted an international symposium on asthma in 1998, a workshop on questionnaire revisions pertinent to building-related asthma in 1999, and an ad hoc committee of the American Thoracic Society to prepare a published statement on occupational asthma and COPD.
