About the Membership Program


Become a member of the Institute for Child Health Policy (ICHP) and help us in our mission to improve the health of children, adolescents and young adults through rigorous scientific research and powerful research partnerships. Networking and collaborating with other child health researchers are key to securing major grant funding, strengthening your research, and broadening its impact.

ICHP has a 25-year history of fostering collaborative research on the UF campus, around the state and across the nation. With its emphasis on early childhood interventions, child health outcomes, and a research infrastructure to support pragmatic clinical trials and implementation science studies in community settings, ICHP plays a leading role in designing, testing, refining and implementing multidisciplinary research studies that improve children’s health.

Institutes do not have members the way a department does. Instead, anyone associated with an institute is an affiliate of some sort. The institute currently offers three levels of membership:

Affiliate Membership:

As an affiliate faculty member, you’ll have a unique opportunity to join a growing network of renowned child health researchers. The institute provides a variety of networking and collaborative opportunities throughout the year, including

  • A seminar series featuring presentations from child health researchers, including leaders in the field, on the latest news, trends, developments and studies.
  • Monthly emails alerting you to new child health funding opportunities.
  • A quarterly newsletter to help you keep abreast of child health news and research around campus.
  • Informal campus networking events such as “research speed dating.”
  • The annual ICHP Research Day where child health researchers campus-wide gather to network and share research and ideas.
  • Access to additional avenues for statewide and national collaborations, such as the OneFlorida Child Health Alliance and PCORnet pediatric study opportunities.

Affiliate members serve a three-year term that is renewable with the submission of an online application, CV and brief statement of purpose. During each three-year term, affiliate members are expected to present one seminar on a child health topic of their choice; participate in ICHP-sponsored events, including the submission of a poster for the institute’s annual Research Day; and submit their CV and publications to ICHP annually for inclusion in ICHP’s annual progress report and year-end activities report to the provost’s office.

Full Membership:

As a full affiliate member of the institute, you’ll enjoy all of the benefits and networking opportunities of affiliate members. In addition, full affiliate members are eligible to apply for ICHP pilot funding and have access to the ICHP Research Navigator, who provides the following types of research assistance:

  • Help finding appropriate data sources for research questions.
  • Assistance with making research connections as needed.
  • Assistance in compliance with all data governance policies and agency requirements for data access.
  • Advice about research design and data analysis of new/existing studies, including making connections with others at UF as needed.
  • Indirect cost returns on research grants where affiliate members are Co-Is on ICHP PI-submitted awards

In addition to the responsibilities outlined above for affiliate members, full affiliate members are also expected to

  • Sign this Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
  • Declare indirect costs (IDCs) to ICHP at the time of grant awards
  • Include ICHP personnel (such as biostatistical support or the services of the research navigator) as appropriate on grant submissions.
  • Serve on ICHP committees, such as grant review committees, the ICHP Research Day planning committee, and the ICHP strategic planning workgroup, as needs arise.

Student Membership:

University of Florida medical and graduate students, as well as post-docs, residents and fellows, may apply for a student membership, which provides access to the same valuable networking and collaborating opportunities enjoyed by affiliate members. Student members are expected to present one seminar on a child health topic of their choice every three years and participate in ICHP-sponsored events, including the submission and presentation of a poster for the institute’s annual Research Day in April.