Envision Networks

The Envision Project consists of three modeling networks:

COMNet (Collaborative Obesity Modeling Network)

Five varied and advanced projects out of Australia, Canada, England and the United States, co-funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child and Health Development (NICHD), and Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (OBSSR)

CompMod (Comparative Modeling Network)

Seven newly formed systems modeling projects, including agent-based modeling, system dynamic modeling, Markov modeling , and micro-simulation, funded jointly by the NICHD, OBSSR, and RWJF

Statistical Network

Advanced computational and statistical modeling projects funded under an RFA sponsored by the NICHD, NHLBI, and OBSSR. Each network has an expert steering committee drawn from the modeling teams and members of NCCOR's member organizations to guide, review, and improve on the proposed modeling projects and assist with interpretation of results to increase the efficiency of cross-project learning.



Objectives

Through the Envision Project, NCCOR hopes to achieve:

  1. Greater understanding of the complex etiology of childhood obesity;
  2. Comparative evaluations of energy balance models;
  3. Comparative evaluations of models projecting the impact and cost-effectiveness of different policy and environmental changes;
  4. Comparative evaluation of different modeling approaches to childhood obesity;
  5. Virtual testing of the effects of different combinations and sequence of childhood obesity interventions;
  6. Continued collaboration, cooperation and strategic networking among modeling groups;
  7. Development and dissemination of scientific papers, presentations, and reports.