Led by Floyd Malveaux, M.D., Ph.D., a nationally recognized expert in asthma and allergic diseases and former dean of the Howard University College of Medicine, the Merck Childhood Asthma Network (MCAN) seeks to be a leading national resource for and an advocate on behalf of children with asthma by working with national, regional and community partners. It advances and supports comprehensive community-based approaches that facilitate the adoption of evidence-based asthma interventions, and aims to demonstrate that, while asthma currently is not curable, it is manageable when children and their families have access to and utilize quality health care services.

MCAN is guided by input from a National Advisory Board, which includes renowned experts and thought leaders with expertise that ranges from asthma treatment and management, clinical and translational research to health care systems and services research, and health disparities and policy.

MCAN supports competitive, peer-reviewed childhood asthma translational research specifically focused on the adoption of evidence-based treatment and prevention models that will:

• Improve access to and quality of asthma health care services for children
• Enhance knowledge about asthma among affected individuals and the general public
• Foster asthma-friendly schools and communities
• Promote asthma-safe home environments
• Reduce disparities in childhood asthma outcomes.

The mission of MCAN is anchored in findings and data that demonstrate:

• Asthma is manageable when children and their families have access to and utilize quality health care services; and
• There are evidence-based interventions that have proven effective in managing asthma symptoms as well as facilitating access to and utilization of the health care system. 

As the mission of MCAN cannot be achieved by any one organization, the Merck Childhood Asthma Network represents a "network" of partners working to reduce the burden of the disease on children, families, systems and society. 

In December 2005, MCAN awarded its first grants to four-year childhood asthma programs in:

• New York City to the New York Presbyterian Hospital WIN for Asthma program in partnership with Columbia University's College of Physicians & Surgeons, Mailman School of Public Health and local community-based organizations
• Los Angeles to the Los Angeles Unified School District's Comprehensive Asthma Program
• Chicago to the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago's Addressing Asthma in Englewood Program in partnership with the University of Illinois at Chicago
•  Philadelphia to the Health Promotion Council of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Inc., Thomas Jefferson University and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
• San Juan, Puerto Rico, to RAND Health and the University of Puerto Rico's School of Public Health's la Red de Asma Infantil de Puerto Rico Program. 

An independent research group will rigorously evaluate these programs; evaluation findings will provide important insight into the implementation and effectiveness of evidence-based programs as well as the challenges and opportunities of national replication of these comprehensive asthma program models in the real world.

In addition to its original five grantees, MCAN supports the Head-off Environmental Asthma in Louisiana (HEAL) Project, a collaborative research project conducted by the Tulane University Health Sciences Center and the New Orleans Department of Health, along with Rho Inc., as the data coordinating center. The purpose of the project is to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel case management/environmental intervention and to learn about the effects of mold and other indoor allergens on children with asthma in post-Katrina New Orleans, including inherited differences in children’s response to these allergens. The HEAL Project is funded through a partnership managed by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health between MCAN, the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health.

The Merck Company Foundation is supporting MCAN with a commitment of up to $20 million from 2005 through 2009. In addition, MCAN receives financial support through a partnership agreement with the deLaski Family Foundation.

The content on this page was last modified on September 15, 2009.

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