The Conditions Affecting Neurocognitive Development and Learning in Early Childhood (CANDLE) study was launched by founding investigators at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), driven by the growing recognition that early life experiences, including those before birth, can shape children’s brain development and learning skills. In 2006, with initial funding support from the Urban Child Institute, UTHSC began building the CANDLE cohort by enrolling pregnant women from the Memphis area.
Between 2006 and 2011, over 1,500 mother-child pairs were enrolled in the study. Since then, participants have continued to engage in regular follow-ups throughout early childhood and into adolescence. These visits have included physical exams, behavioral and cognitive assessments, and extensive data collection on environmental, social, and biological factors that influence health and development.
Today, CANDLE is a cohort site of the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Through this national initiative, CANDLE contributes critical data to better understand how early life exposures affect child health outcomes across diverse populations.
With its extensive clinical data and biospecimens collected from the pregnant women and their children, the CANDLE study remains a landmark research effort in the region, anchored in Memphis, with a continuing mission to inform policy, practice, and scientific discovery in child health and development.
