Welcome to the Lamar County Vanguard location for the National Children’s Study. Nestled in the heart of the Red River Valley, Lamar County is a tight-knit community of close to 50,000 residents. The county spans nearly 900 square miles and is located in Northeast Texas, about 100 miles North of Dallas near the Texas/Oklahoma border. Lamar County is geographically diverse with agricultural areas and small towns surrounding a larger city dotted with industrial, commercial, and residential settings. The city of Paris is the county seat, and home to the “second largest Eiffel Tower in the second largest Paris in the world.”
The University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center Study Center team will reach out and invite eligible women across Lamar County to participate in the Study, with the goal of enrolling children who represent the ethnic diversity, culture, and varied geography of this part of the United States. About 1,000 Lamar County children are expected to enroll in the Study over the next five years.
Lamar County residents are excited and proud to be a part of this ground breaking study. The UT Southwestern Medical Center Study Center delegated leadership for the Lamar County location to UT Health Sciences Center (UTHSC) Tyler, which has many ties to Lamar County, such as being in the same public health region (DSHS 4/5 North) and sharing regional demographics (geography, rural predominance, and racial/ethnic distribution). Furthermore, UTHSC Tyler has a track record of excellence in education, consultation, and research in children’s environmental health. The Study team has partnered with local providers from Lamar County and surrounding communities to carry out Study activities.
“There are so many unanswered questions in medicine and the questions that are supposedly answered are based upon data that is contaminated by less than optimal numbers of study subjects, regional and demographic bias, and just plain bad science. Only by a very large coordinated study with specific goals, guidelines, and rigorous data collection can we begin to understand what the real facts are. When those facts are known powerful stratagems will follow and medicine will move forward even more rapidly to eliminate suffering and premature death in children.”
— David Carpenter M.D., Lamar County Obstetrician